It started in 2000 with me, a Dual CD recorder and handmade artwork. Then it was on to a Spotify Playlists and for the last 6 years a Podcast where myself and my dear friend Steven Routledge each choose our favourite 10 albums of the year and talk through why they made the list. 

Part 1 was released on 19/12/24 and this is Part 2 where we tale through choices 5 to 1 and announce our respective 'Album of the Year' ! 

I hope you enjoy the episode and ideally find some new music that you love. If you do please let me know at Musictalkspod@Outlook.com. 

You can find the song selections played in this episode here : 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6qRL4bX56BreAEMRoM9wqi?si=772f619f1c4b403b

Steven's choices start at 0' 53 and my section is at 27'17" - enjoy :-)

It started in 2000 with me, a Dual CD recorder and handmade artwork. Then it was on to a Spotify Playlists and for the last 6 years a Podcast where myself and my dear friend Steven Routledge each choose our favourite 10 albums of the year and talk through why they made the list. 

Part 1 is now out where we both talk through albums 10 to 6 and Part 2 will be out on Boxing Day.

I hope you enjoy the episode and ideally find some new music that you love. If you do please let me know at Musictalkspod@Outlook.com. 

You can find the song selections played in this episode here : 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3dBRVhkPjEytVjZoqPa6KR?si=48518c60563343ac

Steven's choices start at 1' 44" and my section is at 25'08" - enjoy :-)

Five years and 100 episodes felt to me like a good time to bring things to a close. It has been a fantastic, joyful, fulfilling and most importantly FUN experience doing this Podcast, and it is something I will always treasure. 

To mark this occasion, I thought it was time for me to appear as a guest on my own show and I’m delighted to say that my very first guest, Steve Clayton, agreed to come back and be the host of this episode. Thank you Steve!

It will be no surprise to anyone that I had quite a lot to say hence splitting the episode into two parts, both of which are a vinyl friendly 45 ish minutes in length! 

Music Talks was originally conceived as a 'music nerd' Podcast but over time it morphed into something different with many guests not just telling their life story but also being incredibly open and honest about the ups and downs they had faced. I felt I had to honour that in these episodes and do the same. In musical terms my episode contains major and minor chords but of course music (and life) is only interesting when there are both!. 

I hope you enjoy the stories and that even for my oldest friends there might be a new story or two in there. As far as the music choices go these were my song choices for Part 2. 

90's -  Don't Look Back In Anger *-           Oasis 

00's -  First Day of My Life             -           Bright Eyes

10’s -  Long Walk Home                  -           Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

20’s -  The Only Road                      -           Elbow   

* The episode was recorded just BEFORE Oasis announced their reunion tour! 

I say my thank you' s at the end of the episode but a heartfelt thanks to all my guests and everyone who ever listened, you gave me SO much for which I will always be grateful!

To close out Music Talks completely there will be a couple of compilation episodes in October & November and then the annual ' Favourite Albums of the Year' with Steven Routledge in December. 

I hope you will be able to listen to those episodes but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this one :-) 

Five years and 100 episodes felt to me like a good time to bring things to a close. It has been a fantastic, joyful, fulfilling and most importantly FUN experience doing this Podcast, and it is something I will always treasure. 

To mark this occasion, I thought it was time for me to appear as a guest on my own show and I’m delighted to say that my very first guest, Steve Clayton, agreed to come back and be the host of this episode. Thank you Steve!

It will be no surprise to anyone that I had quite a lot to say hence splitting the episode into two parts, both of which are a vinyl friendly 45 minutes in length! 

Music Talks was originally conceived as a 'music nerd' Podcast but over time it morphed into something different with many guests not just telling their life story but also being incredibly open and honest about the ups and downs they had faced. I felt I had to honour that in these episodes and do the same. In musical terms my episode contains major and minor chords but of course music (and life) is only interesting when there are both. 

I hope you enjoy the stories and that even for my oldest friends there might be a new story or two in there. As far as the music choices go these were my choices for Part 1 

50’s -  Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin’      - From ‘Carousel’ 

60’s -  I Am The Walrus                             - The Beatles

70’s -  My Old School                               - Steely Dan

80’s -  Mary’s Prayer                                 - Danny Wilson 

I mention a lot of other music as well and for Part 1 they can be found here along with my main selections. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3jCpe8EAqur9pqEI9SW0xj?si=ad7da10f6eb1478f

I hope you enjoy Part 1 enough that you will be back for Part 2 which will be out on Thursday 12th September. 

Thanks for listening and enjoy! 

Given I will be moving chairs I needed someone to be the host of that episode and who better than Steve Clayton, a dear friend, my very first guest on Music Talks and one of the best communicators I know. Given his role at Microsoft is ‘Chief Storyteller’ that’s no surprise. 

The original episode I did with Steve went out on June 25th, 2019, but I didn’t  want to just re-post it. The brilliant Andy Rhode at Audionauts has been helping me edit Music Talks for almost three years now and so I asked him to re-edit and remaster that original recording and I think he’s done a great job. 

I was never happy with the sound on that first episode and whilst it’s still not perfect it sounds a lot better than it did. He’s also edited it down to a Vinyl friendly 45 minutes and I’m pleased to say that most of what has been edited out is me not Steve! 

For those of you who have heard the original episode I hope this will be an enjoyable reminder and for anyone that hasn’t then I hope this will be a good introduction to the host of Episode 100. 

Steve’s music choices were: 

70’s –   Go Your Own Way -                                                 Fleetwood Mac

80’s -    Where The Streets Have No Name -                    U2

90’s -    Unfinished Sympathy -                                          Massive Attack

00’s -    The Planets Bend Between Us                              Snow Patrol

10’s -    A Sky Full of Stars                                                    Coldplay

Enjoy and see you on September 4th 

Kevin is special to me because prior to starting Music Talks I did some pilot episodes with my dear friend Jesse Jackson as a co-host under the name ‘Teatime with Terry’ (I thought that was a great name until somebody said they thought it was a golf podcast). 

The original plan was that we would have friends of mine or Jessie’s as our ‘guinea pigs’ to test out the format. Jesse was good enough to post the first couple of episodes on Setlustingbruce.com at which point an email arrived from Kevin saying, ‘like the format and love to be on the show’! Believe me I can still remember the excitement 😊 

I have always thought of Kevin as my first guest, but the episode was only ever a pilot and I always knew I would have him back on to Music Talks at the right time. Episode 99 is the right time as Kevin is also going to be my last guest as after much deliberation, I have decided to bring Music Talks to a close. There will be Episode 100 and the guest is me……..! I will give my thoughts, reflections and thanks in that episode as I don’t want to detract from what is for me just a great guest and episode. 

Kevin was born in 1973 in a small town called Thibodaux. At the age of three the family moved to Baton Rouge and that is where Kevin lives today with his wife Alisa and their 10-year-old daughter Sarah. 

Music and Broadcasting have always been a love for Kevin, and he was spinning his first discs at the age of 10 at the local roller-skating rink ‘Skate Galaxy’. His degree is in Broadcasting & PR, and he did stints in numerous radio stations with great names like KNSU, KPEL and KTBY. In the early Noughties after marrying Alissa he changed careers and for the last 17 years has worked in the Juvenile Court System in Baton Rouge which is a job he describes as presenting new challenges every single day. 

Kevin returned to his broadcasting roots in Feb 2022 with the launch of his radio show ‘Miscellaneous Debris’ which really is a must listen. You can find it at www.suburbspod.com/radio/ or on MIxCloud. 

Kevin’s song choices are:  

70’s – Superstition                                    -                              Stevie Wonder

80’s – A Forest                                            -                              The Cure

90’s – Sick of Myself                                 -                              Matthew Sweet

00’s – Save It For A Rainy Day              -                              The Jayhawks

10’s – Perfect World                                 -                              Broken Bells

20’s – The Luckier You Get                    -                              American Aquarium 

Enjoy:-)

Nicki now lives in Cardiff but was born in 1978 in Zimbabwe. At 5 months old, after her Mum insisted on a second opinion, she was diagnosed as being blind. For sighted people like me that would feel like a massive burden and challenge but in talking about it Nicki says “I’m really happy with it, you have to adapt’ and “it’s been a problem for a lot of people, but never for me”. 

Nicki doesn’t shy away from discussing some of the challenges and prejudice she has faced but her indomitable spirit shines through our whole conversation and I found it deeply inspirational, and I trust you will too. 

The other thing that shines through is Nicki’s deep love of music which has been a positive force in her life for so long. She references over 70 artists in our chat and it’s not everyone that can go from ‘The Chicken Song’ through Jaco Pastorius to Rage Against the Machine! 

Nicki isn’t just a listener she is also a musician. Her musical journey has gone through Piano, Flute and Guitar before she arrived in early 40’s at the Bass Guitar, which describes as ‘her instrument’ and one of her song choices specifically reflect that. 

Her song choices are : 

70’s      Your My Best Friend                                Don Williams

80’s      Rio                                                                      Duran Duran

90’s      The Car Song                                               Elastica

00’s      Bass Tribute                                                 Victor Wooten

10’s      Trust In You                                                  Lauren Dagle

20’s      Too Good For Giving Up                       Liam Gallagher 

Enjoy :-)

Derrick and I first met in 2001 when he joined Microsoft in Ireland. Our paths crossed many times and in many ways over the years and it has always been a pleasure to spend time with him. 

Today he is General Manager of the Customer Success Unit in Microsoft UK and sits on the UK Board.  A quick look at his LinkedIn Profile will show the considerable skills he has but for me the most significant thing is that in amongst all the corporate madness he has managed to remain impressively grounded and that comes across in our chat. 

Derrick has three passions which are key to him keeping his feet on the ground the first of which is his family. He was born in 1969 and grew up in Belfast during ‘The Troubles’ which he reflects on in a typically thoughtful and moving way. For the past 15 years home has been in Edinburgh where he lives with his wife and their two boys Conner and Joe. His eldest boy Jamie got married last week and his daughter Lucy lives in London and works in I.T. 

The second passion, as you will hear is music and at festivals like Download that is shared with Connor and Joe. 

His final passion is running, and he is well on the way to completing the ‘Big 6’ Marathons and getting his ‘Six Star Finisher Medal’. Music and Playlists are clearly an important part of his running regime hence the title of the episode. 

Derrick’s song selections are: 

70’s      I’ve Got A Feeling                                      The Beatles

80’s      Alive And Kicking                                       Simple Minds

90’s      Paranoid Android                                      Radiohead

00’s      I Predict A Riot                                            Kaiser Chiefs

10’s      X-Ray Visons                                               Clutch

20’s      Mr. Motivator                                               Idles 

Enjoy 😊 

Lynn is a native of Portland Maine but she had a childhood dream to move to California. It took some time to fulfil her dream but this year Lynn celebrates 30 years living in California and her musical career spans a similar timescale. 

Despite being a ‘late bloomer’ Lynn has performed and recorded with many big names in the music business including:

·       Big Brother & The Holding Company

·       Jerry Harrison - Talking Heads, 

·       Bob Weir- Grateful Dead 

·       Narada Michael Walden - Producer - Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Barbra Streisand. Drummer for Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck, Aretha Franklin, & Journey. 

Lynn writes her own original material, one of which is the song choice for the 2000’s and was also the assistant to Tracy Chapman for a time. As you will hear at the start of the episode there was also a live appearance with a big musical hero of mine ……

In 2009, Lynn became a vocal coach and it has become a real passion, particularly working with young singers, one of which provides her song choice for the 2020’s (www.annaharrell.net )

Lynn’s story is a great musical journey but there is also a personal journey and adversity to be dealt with. In Lynn’s case this was dealing with Breast Cancer on three occasions, and I hope you find her insight into how she thought and dealt with that as inspirational as I did. 

Lynn’s song choices are. 

60’s -    Hey Jude                                                        - The Beatles

70’s -    You Should Be Dancing                         - Bee Gees

80’s -    You Can Sleep While I Drive               - Melissa Etheridge

90’s -    Why                                                                   - Annie Lennox

00’s -    Now That You’re Gone                           - Lynn Asher

10’s -    Freedom                                                         - (From ‘Django Unchained’) 

20’s -    Night Light                                                    - Anna Harrell

Claire was born and grew up in Cornwall with her parents and two elder brothers. She describes her childhood as being ‘surrounded by all types of music’ and that breadth is reflected in her song choices and the much longer list she sent to me. Her song choices are: 

80’s      I Should Be So Lucky                                                             Kylie Minogue 

90’s      I’ll Do Anything For Love (But I Wont Do That)    Meat Loaf

00’s      Song For The Road                                                                 David Ford

10’s      F**kin’ Perfect                                                                           Pink

20’s      I’ll See You In My Dreams                                                   Bruce Springsteen 

At 18 Claire moved to Cardiff to study Music at the University and has had the good sense to stay in the city ever since. By day she is a Civil Servant, but flexible working enables her to follow her passion for music as a serious amateur musician who plays in an orchestra and sings in a choir. She also recently started doing on-line talks about music which you can find at 

https://events.restless.co.uk/event-calendar/?categories=music

Music has been a constant in Claire’s life, and it has provided both comfort and joy. But she also talks very openly about the challenges she faced in studying and playing at the highest level and there are great lessons for all of us in that story. 

A recent convert to the delights of Bruce Frederick Springsteen the episode closes with a poignant song choice from his most recent album ‘Letter To You’ and a Music Talks first where we play two versions of the same song ! 

Enjoy 😊 

Like all Springsteen fans Mark is passionate about Bruce’s music but the joy of this episode is how much passion Mark has for all his song choices. If any of them are new to you I’m certain you will be seeking them out after having heard Mark talk about them and they are great choices: 

70’s -     Three Steps To Heaven                  Showaddywaddy

80’s -     Dancing In The Dark                       Bruce Springsteen

90’s -     Polaroids                                                Shawn Colvin

00’s -     Stuck Between Stations               The Hold Steady

10’s -     The Ceiling                                            The Wild Feathers

20’s -     No Mercy                                               Nils Lofgren

Bristol born and bred Mark celebrated his 50th birthday at the end of 2023 and so doing Music Talks was a good opportunity to look back and reflect. He has lived most of his life in the South West of England but for five years between 2011 and 2016 he and his wife Catherine lived in Toronto. 

With the same passion and enthusiasm he shows for music, Mark talks us through the delight of moving from ‘sleepy Wiltshire’ to the most multicultural and multiracial city in the world. As you would expect that experience also informs his song choice for the 2010's.

In 94 episodes of Music Talks there have been many great stories, but Mark’s closing story in ‘Final Thoughts’ is one of my absolute favourites. It’s also where the title of the episode comes from but that’s all im going to say ……….

Enjoy 😊

‘Chapter Markers’ contains full details of songs/artists/albums and there is a summary list below. You can also use 'Chapter markers ' to play individual choices if you wish.
 
 Steven's Album Choices:
5 – ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’             - Teenage Fanclub 

4 – ‘Rat Saw God’                                  - Wednesday

3 – ‘The Ballad of Darren’                 - Blur 

2 – ‘It All Began With Loneliness’ - The Anchoret

1 – Roll Up A” Song                                - Gonzalez Smith 

 My Album Choices:
5 – ‘IDES’                                                     - King Creosote

4 – ‘Joy’All’                                                  -Jenny Lewis

3 – ‘Strays’                                                   - Margo Price 

2 – The Great White Sea Eagle       - James Yorkston/Nina Persson/ The Second Hand Orchestra

1 – ‘The Candle and the Flame’      - Robert Forster

Please do let me know what you think of these choices and particularly if there is new music you like. You can do that by emailing me at musictalkspod@outlook.com , I really look forward to hearing from you. 
 
Wishing you a very Happy New Year and lets hope 2024 is another great year for music. 

Music Talks will be back with the first episode of the New Year on Thursday February 1st, 2024. 

Gabriel is one of my youngest guests at 32 but, as you will hear, he has packed a lot into those years and he describes himself as ‘crime author, playwright, podcaster, actor, dog lover and massive Springsteen fan’. 

He was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia when he was a few months old and that has been home over since. He now lives in Melbourne but does a great job of painting a picture of what growing up in rural Australia was like for a creative, non-sporty boy who was an aggressively average student (his phrase not mine!) 

A visit to the cinema to see ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ lit his creative spark and it has stayed with him ever since. A quick glance at his Wiki page (Gabriel Bergmoser - Wikipedia) will show how prodigious and successful he has been over the past 10 years. 

Highlights include winning the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award in 2015 and four years later signing a two-book deal with Harper Collins. The first of the books was ‘The Hunted’ which was a worldwide success and resulted in a book deal with Faber in the UK and a subsequent film deal. 

Despite all that success Gabriel is clear eyed about the reality of being a creative in 2023 and the fact that there will always be ups and downs whoever you are. Similarly, he delivers a strong message about hard work and application being more important than talent and the need at times to ‘Just Do It’. 

As you would expect he tells a great story around each of his song selection which were: 

90’s        Kiss Me                                Sixpence None the Richer

00’s        Mr. Brightside                  The Killers

10’s        Unbelievers                       Vampire Weekend

20’s        Dorothea                            Taylor Swift

Paul is a self-confessed ‘Music Talks Junkie’ and I love the fact that he listens to the episodes on his journey to and from Fly Fishing. Originally from the UK he’s lived in the U.S for over 30 years and now has the joy of living in Bend, Oregon which I am very jealous of having had a couple of delightful holidays there and at one point we seriously considered retiring there. 

Music is a clear passion for Paul, both listening but also playing guitar. He describes himself disparagingly as ‘a hack’ but I hardly think that’s fair particularly given he’s a left hander who plays right-handed. His musical passion is complemented by several others including:

·        Family – his wife Talley and their two children Ellis & Dylan.

·        Climbing – Paul shares several fun, inspirational stories about climbing as well as one about climbing the Royal Arches in Yosemite and almost not making it down. 

·        Cycling – with three friends he did The Race Across America, which is 3200 miles in 7 days. This was the inspiration for one of his song choices and the title of the episode. 

He also shares openly and movingly about the challenges his son Ellis faced with addiction and how he came very close to death. I’m delighted to say that Ellis is now well into his recovery and in Paul’s own words is thriving. 

Paul finishes his song selections with a performance of an original song by himself and his younger child Dylan. There’s a great story behind it and the performance is just exquisite. 

Paul’s song selections are: 

60’s -     Moon River                                                                   Audrey Hepburn
70’s -     Carillon                                                                            Sky
80’s -     Love Is A Stranger                                                     Eurythmics
90’s -     Signe                                                                                 Eric Clapton
00’s -     Fix You                                                                             Coldplay
10’s -     Catch & Release (Deepend Remix)                 Matt Summers
20’s -     Made It Out of Clay                                                  Dylan Webb 

Born in 1975 in the port city of Piraeus in Greater Athens, George continues to live in Greece but has moved to the mountains from the sea where he lives with wife and his two young children.

He was a late bloomer in terms of music but when things clicked in his late teens there was no looking back. He describes himself as ‘compulsive’ and ‘obsessive’ and this has driven a lifelong passion that’s produced a deep love and an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music. In recent years those same characteristics have driven his learning to play guitar which he impressively practices an hour a day! 

George was good enough to provide me with his list of 101 Favourite Albums and it makes for fascinating reading.  We tale about some of those albums during the episode but if anyone would like to see the full list, please email me at musictalkspod@outlook.com

There is a strong theme of passion and emotion that runs through all of George’s song selections and it’s a list I really love. His song selections were: 

70’s        Mind Power                                                                   James Brown

80’s        Tango Till They’re Sore                                            Tom Waits

90’s        Love You Should’ve Come Over                         Jeff Buckley 

00’s        A Thousand Kisses Deep                                        Leonard Cohen 

10’s        Conversation 16                                                          The National

20’s        Love Is The Main Thing                                             Fontaines D.C. 

Enjoy :-) 

In 2017, the opportunity of losing his job presented itself and he set up his own story telling company Colbyvision. He now spends his time helping production companies broadcasters and business owners make top-notch programs & tell their stories. 
 

He also has one of my favourite Lockdown stories. Craig connected with people over Facebook by wearing a different hat each day for 125 days and people then shared their hats in the comments. At the behest of his mother this then became his first book ‘ALL CAPS: Stories That Justify an Outrageous Hat Collection’ which won the Non-Fiction Category at The Canadian Book Awards in 2022. 

Craig comes to Music Talks via my dear friend Jesse Jackson from the Set Lusting Bruce Podcast. Jesse’s intro mail included the great line ‘Craig’s book is Music Talks with hats!’ – how could I resist. The book is available on Amazon but if you are in the UK and want a physical copy it currently ships from the U.S. but believe me its worth the wait! 

It’s no surprise that Craig has a compelling story to tell with lots of great insights and observations. He also put a lot of work into making song selections that have a personal connection but also have a connection to what was going on in the wider world.  

Craig’s song selections were: 

60’s      -           Love Child                                         -           Diana Ross & The Supremes 
70’s      -           Don’t Take Away The Music   -           Tavares
80’s      -           Modern Love                                   -           David Bowie
90’s      -           Fumbling Towards Ectasy        -           Sarah McLachlan
00’s      -           Lonesome Day                                -           Bruce Springsteen
10’s      -           Tightrope                                           -           Janelle Monae
20’s      -           As It Was                                             -           Harry Styles 

Enjoy :-)

Marian comes to Music Talks through the miracle and wonder of social media and a shared love of the music of Bruce Springsteen. I saw a post in a fan group on Facebook that said, ‘my course on Bruce Springsteen’ and that was Marian. We got into a dialogue and to my amazement she was teaching her course ‘Three Minute Records’ at my local university in Edinburgh.  

Inevitably we talk about Bruce and the course, but we cover a lot more ground than that in this episode.

Prior to becoming an academic Marian was a Producer of Live Concerts and Events before dedicating herself to becoming a Jazz Saxophonist. 

It’s a remarkable story of commitment and determination where she gets to meet, and is consistently helped by, a host of jazz luminaries from Canada and the US, and this culminates in Lee Konitz the composer and saxophonist being her tutor for eight years. 

Like many people I have a very romantic view of the life of a professional musician and Marian does a great job of painting a picture of the harsh reality whilst also saying ‘this was the happiest time of my life’. 

Though now living in Edinburgh Marian is Canadian and that is a theme that runs through our conversation and not just in terms of some of her choices. 

Regarding choices Marian is transparent about her dislike of rules and authority and so she submitted two sets of song choices to me for the episode – ‘The Rule Abiding List’ and ‘The Alternative List’. You will need to listen to get the full story but here is the ‘Rule Abiding List’. 

70’s - Another Brick in The Wall  -               Pink Floyd

80’s - Down in The Bottom              -               Colin James

90’s - The Obvious Child                   -               Paul Simon 

00’s - It’s Alright with Me                  -               Murley-Bickert-Wallace  

10’s - At Transformation                    -               The Tragically Hip 

20’s – If I Was The Priest                    -               Bruce Springsteen 

Outro – Welcome to Hard Times  -               Charley Crockett 

Enjoy 😊

Bryan is just 50 and works in a third sector charity.  He lives in Peterhead, a large fishing port in Aberdeenshire, with his wife, 4 children and a Cockapoo acquired during Covid. Like me Bryan is the youngest in his family but in his case, he had three older sisters and on his own admittance was spoilt rotten as a child. 

Since 2015 he has been a keen runner and next month, he will run his first Marathon and an Ultra Marathon is the eventual goal. 

That sort of commitment and determination can also be seen in Bryan’s obsessive love of bands and music, and he has some great stories to tell, including how Lana Del ray made him late for work.!. His musical taste is genuinely wide ranging, and I can’t wait to pull together the Playlist for this episode as he touched on so many great artists in our chat. 

Bryan’s song choices are: 

70’s -     Please Mr. Postman -                                  Carpenters

80’s -     Waterfall -                                                        The Stone Roses

90’s -     Dead Flag Blues -                                         Godspeed You! Black Emperor    

00’s -     Slow Show                                                       The National

10’s -     Video Games                                                  Lana Del Rey 

20’s -     Death Is Not The End                                Embrace        

                                                   

Henrik was born and grew up in a small town called Karlskoga which is between Stockholm and Oslo. Whilst not ‘desperate to get out ‘he left Karlskoga at the first opportunity and has subsequently lived & worked on three continents including stints in Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Greece. For the past 20 years home has been Southern California where he lives today in Newport Beach with his wife Lisa and their 6-year-old daughter Sarah. 

Henrik’s story is one of grabbing opportunities when they come up (even if it takes you to a war zone) , making what you enjoy your guiding light and recognising that necessity is the mother of invention.  It also contains a brilliantly romantic story of him, very uncharacteristically, inviting Lisa his wife on a sailing holiday in the Caribbean after their first date! 

Like many of my guests Henrik shares a twin passion for music and technology and you can see this running through his music choices. Not surprisingly though he starts with Abba and the delights of Eurovision, and because of the brilliant story above I made an exception and allowed Henrik to choose his first dance song at his wedding for the 2010’s 

His song choices are: 

70’s        Waterloo                                                              Abba

80’s        Just Can’t Get Enough                                  Depeche Mode

90’s        Friday I’m In Love                                             The Cure

00’s        Nothing But You (PvD Radio Mix)          Paul Van Dyk 

10’s        What A Wonderful World                           Louis Armstrong 

20’s        You Are                                                                   Gareth Emery                                                 

I’m delighted to say that Christina is my first guest from Greece, and she is a true Athenian. She has lived there all her life and continues to live there today along with her husband who was her best friend in high school! 

Christina always thought she would become a chemist but through a set of happy accidents she started her working career in 1997 in the music industry with Virgin Records. She later moved into Marketing & PR in the corporate world but describes her time in the music industry as ‘the best job I ever had’. 

In her own words she has always been ‘obsessed with music’ and on numerous occasions it has been her ‘saviour and salvation’. She talks fondly about the challenges of getting to hear music and see live shows in Greece and for me that was a timely reminder of how spoiled we were musically growing up in the UK or the US. At the end of the day though music lovers will always find a way. 

Whilst I wasn’t aware when Roy made the introduction Christina is also a big fan of Springsteen and on July 23rd she will be in Munich for the first time to see him live, I just wish I could be there with her 😊 

In addition to her song choices Christina also chose a word to describe each decade and I have included these below. Enjoy! 

70’s -     Birth                     Love Is The Drug                              Roxy Music 

80’s -     Dream                 Livin’ On A Prayer                            Bon Jovi 

90’s -     Adulthood         Dance Of The Bad Angels          Tim Booth, Angelo Badalamenti 

00’s -     Reinvention      Hung Up                                                Madonna 

10’s -     Maturity             Jenny Of Oldstones                       Florence + The Machine 

20’s -     Cycle                      Nightshift                                            Bruce Springsteen

A Middlesborough lad, Mike moved to Manchester in 1984 to study Computing at UMIST where his degree supervisor was Bernard Richards, one of Alan Turing’s last students. Mike has never left the Northwest and he and his family have become committed ‘Mancophiles’, not least because of the great environment the city provides for music and the arts.

Mike is a passionate music lover but it’s words that really impact him and as per the title of the episode on occasions make him cry. Similarly, recorded music is great but for him it’s all about the live performance. He inherited this love from his parents (who met Ella Fitzgerald!) and he and his wife Gerri have passed that on to his two daughters Emily and Anna.

Consequently, each of his song choices are from bands he has seen live. 

Mike has a wealth of great stories including: 

·         The Clash at Manchester Apollo in 1981

·         Bowie at Murrayfield in 1983 on the Let’s Dance Tour 

·         The Smiths at Middlesborough Town Hall Crypt in 1984

·         Chatting with Michael Stipe at Leeds Warehouse in 1984 

·         Asking Don Letts to move out of his seat at a Big Audio Dynamite gig in 1986

·         Radiohead at Glastonbury in 1997

·         The XX at a secret venue under Victoria Station with 60 people in 2013

·         The joy of attending Green Man every year with about 20 family and friends

Mike’s song choices are: 

70’s        (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais         The Clash

80’s        New England                                                             Billy Bragg

90’s        Fake Plastic Trees                                                   Radiohead

00’s        One Day Like This                                                   Elbow

10’s        Make Me Feel                                                           Janelle Monae 

20’s        The 345                                                                         Self Esteem 

I first met Penny in the late 90’s when she had just started the first Social Network, Ecademy with the declared aim of helping business people achieve success through online tools, community, and friendship. 

At that time there were a lot of people talking about online tools but very few talking about community, friendship and love , all of which have permeated Penny’s work throughout her career. 

The intro to her 2018 book ‘Business is Personal’ says ‘Penny has poured her heart into this book, and it is incredibly revealing’ and I feel very privileged that she did the same in our conversation. 

It would be easy for Penny to paint a rose-tinted picture of the journey she has been on, and she is the first to say she has much to be grateful for. But alongside that, life has thrown up some massive challenges, awful luck, and real tragedy. Penny takes us through both sides of that story in the open, honest, and authentic way that is her trademark and I find it genuinely inspirational. 

I always tell my guests: 

 ‘it’s completely up to you how you want to approach the episode and the story you want to tell. All episodes are a mix of music nerdery and life story but the balance between them is different for each guest/episode which is one of the joys for me. 

This is an episode that is more focussed on the life story, but Penny’s song choices enhance her story so much and I would be surprised if you don’t choke up to at least one of them (and I’m very glad I allowed Penny two songs from the same artist) 

Her song choices are: 

60’s        Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da                                    The Beatles 

70’s        Solitaire                                                                Carpenters

80’s        One Moment in Time                                   Whitney Houston

90’s        Get There                                                            Oleta Adams

00’s        I Didn’t Know My Own Strength           Whitney Houston

10’s        Just the Way You Are                                   Bruno Mars

20’s        The Rose                                                              Bette Midler

Born in 1962, shortly after his parents emigrated to England from India, Noury grew up around West Kensington and the Hammersmith Road. His love of music started at an early age when he was given his first guitar by Manny Elias who went on to be the drummer with Tears for Fears in their heyday. 

Noury was not a fan of Progressive Rock or Disco and in 1973 the film American Graffiti resulted in in a dalliance with playing Rock & Roll over the next couple of years. But all that changed on his 15th Birthday (7/02/77) when he went to The Nashville Room and saw a band he’d never heard of – The Jam! The world was never the same for Noury after that night and subsequently he was in a band who released an album and were well known on ‘the London Scene’. 

As is so often the case though the band eventually petered out and in the early 80’s, encouraged by his girlfriend at the time, Noury enrolled on a programming course convincing himself this was another creative outlet. Cobol and writing Capex systems for Hertz didn’t initially deliver against that brief but it did lead to a successful 30-year career with Microsoft and then Amazon from which he recently retired at the end of last year. 

Whilst working for Microsoft he moved to Seattle in 1997 which reignited his interest in music and resulted in a massive life change. In the city of grunge Noury developed an interest and then a deep passion for the Blues which kick-started his semi pro career as Son Jack Jr. His passion for the Blues comes across loud and clear in this episode and I for one learnt a lot. It’s also great to hear him talk how he got to support Charlie Musselwhite and Chuck Berry amongst others. 

Noury moved back to the UK in the summer of 2020 with his wife and their 17-year-old daughter and in December of last year he announced his retirement from corporate life. Which of course leaves a lot more time for music. A new band is being put together as we speak, and I can’t wait to see them live. 

I hope you enjoy our conversation half as much as I did. 

His work as a commercial illustrator has spanned four decades, starting with his illustrative cover of The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks 7” single in the late 1970s, progressing with his illustrative artwork in The Face magazine in their 1980s heyday and his famous weekly black and white portraits for the New Musical Express (NME).

Ian’s subsequent work has involved collaboration with many famous names and brands including Issy Miyake, Givenchy and portraits of Sun Ra, Motorhead and Grandmaster Flash. 

In a delightfully wide-ranging chat, in both musical choices and subject matter, amongst other things we talk about: 

·        Ian’s love of Radio, initially inspired by his dad ‘streaming’ Radio Luxembourg into his bedroom on a Friday night 

·        The life-changing impact of Hendrix’s appearance on the Happening for Lulu         show in January 1969 

·        The influence of Bob Harris and John Peel

·        Developing a passion for Reggae in the 70’s that continues to this day 

·        What is was like working on NME & The Face in the 80’s 

·        Pete Townsend making him a coffee (Ian doesn’t drink coffee) 

·        Moving to New York in the 00's & working to a soundtrack of the (then unreleased) Beatles Remasters 

·        Coming full circle and in March last year getting his own Radio show on Charlie Bones Do!! You!! Radio (https://doyouworld/) 

Ian’s song choices are appropriately wide ranging and were: 

50’s      Summertime                             Ella Fitzgerald. Louis Armstrong       

60’s      If 6 Was 9                                    The Jimi Hendrix Experience

70’s      Dub With A Difference       Harry Mudie 

80’s      Kalimankou Denkou              The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

90’s      All Is Full Of Love                      Bjork

00’s      King In My Empire                    Rhythm & Sound

10’s      Rock The Machine                    Lisa O’Neill 

20’s      Time Is Precious                         SAULT             

• Running the Digital business at MTV 
• Breaking the world record for most concerts in 24 hours with The Flaming Lips 
• Almost becoming CEO of Fender Guitars 
• Getting 1 million concurrent users on a live stream 
• Meeting Elvis Costello 

and so many more! 

Dermot's song choices were: 

• The 00's - Do You Realize - The Flaming Lips 
• The 10's - Give Me Everything - Pitbull, Neyo, Afrojack, Nayer
•  The 20's - Fairytale of New York - The Pogues with Kirsty McColl 

And with that final song selection all that is left to say is "Happy Christmas" 

Given his name it will be no surprise to hear that Dermot was born in Dublin in 1969 and grew up in the working-class area of Ballyfermot in the city. In the early 90’s, after a formative year in France and a summer spent in the US, he emigrated to the US which is still home to him today. For a long time, he lived in New York, but he recently moved with his wife Donna to the sunshine and sand of Manhattan Beach in California. 

Whilst his degree was in Electrical Engineering, he has spent his working life at the intersection of Technology, Music, Content & Entertainment. He has worked at several major companies including Viacom, AOL & MTV and highlights for me include him being part of the team that produced Rock Band Beatles Edition, powering all the music in Tesla’s and owning a Podcast company! 

Like all my guests Dermot has a deep love of music and wide-ranging tastes, with Tom Waits, Ska and a certain Irish band called U2 being deep favourites. Whatever your views on U2 I challenge you not to be moved and inspired by Dermot’s story of walking 10 minutes from home in 1983 to see U2 at Phoenix Park and 17 years later having dinner with Bono where he was given the nickname ‘Digital Dermot from Dublin’. 

Dermot's song choices in this Part. 1 episode are: 

60’s       Here Comes The Sun                                                          The Beatles 

70’s       I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You               Tom Waits 

80’s       Ghost Town                                                                               The Specials 

90’s       One                                                                                                 U2 

Enjoy :-)

If you enjoyed Part 1 you will be delighted to hear that the stories and music just ‘keep on coming’ (as they used to say on the radio!) 

In this episode Geoff talks about a whole host of things including:  

·         His time at The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Express and Today 

·         Visiting Cuba 

·         Becoming a father to his two children Helen and Daniel 

·         Joining Microsoft in 1996 to launch MSN News & start of an 18-year journey 

·         Almost being sacked by Bill Gates because of the ‘ iLoo Project’ 

·         Working on the People’s Vote Campaign 

·         Learning to play the Saxophone in Lockdown 

·         Becoming a Powerboat Skipper 

His Music choices are: 

90’s - Chan Chan                               Buena Vista Social Club 

00’s – All Fall Down                         Kanye West, Syleena Johnson 

10’s – Waiting All Night                 Rudimental (Ft. Ella Eyre) 

20’s – Betty et Zorg                         Gabriel Yared 

Enjoy :-)

The stereotype of a Microsoft employee is a Computer Sciences nerd in a check shirt and chinos. Whilst they do exist Geoff is a great example of the diversity of background and experience that existed in the company as was my previous guest Neil Jordan (7 years as a Choirister at Windsor Castle) and indeed myself with my English Lit Degree (specialist subjects - Anglo-Saxon Poetry and Medieval Mystery Plays) 

Geoff joined Microsoft in 1996 to set up MSN News after 16 years as a journalist, including spells at the Daily Mail, Today, Sunday Express and Daily Mirror. It’s no surprise then that he has a raft of stories and in this episode, we hear hilarious and fascinating stories about his time on Mail Showbiz including: 

·       Running with Madonna 

·       Being a waiter at Bill Wyman’s Wedding 

·       A one-off appearance as Elvis on the West End Stage

·       Motivating Boy George to kick his heroin addiction 

·       Princess Di and Fergie pretending to be WPCs at Annabel’s 

He then moved over to News and had the challenging experience of covering three major tragedies in the UK in 87/88 namely the King’s Cross Fire, the explosion and sinking of the Piper Alpha Oil Platform and Lockerbie Terrorist Attack. 
\

Born in Hackney but today Geoff lives in Bermondsey with his wife Asli and he has two grown-up children Helen and Daniel. He is a lifelong Arsenal fan, and he describes his early teens as being all about “Football and Music’. His passion for both continues to shine through and that includes learning to play the Saxophone in lock down (but more on that in Part 2!) . 

His song choices in this episode are: 

60’s – Three Coins in The Fountain          Frank Sinatra

70’s – No Action                                                   Elvis Costello

80’s – Club Tropicana                                        Wham 

Enjoy 😊 

Despite a love of technology, that started at a young age, Neil’s story at its core is a musical one and he describes himself as having a lifelong ‘addiction’ to music, whether that be listening, playing, or singing. During our chat he describes the impact of music on himself in numerous ways including ‘soothing, stimulating,  solace, a release, healing and of course magic’. 

Some of his performance highlights include: 

·       As a teenager being in a 6 piece Acapella group, ‘Ok Chorale’ who performed at the BBC, made records, & won an award at the Edinburgh Fringe

·         Getting a Choral Scholarship at Trinity College Cambridge and travelling all over the world performing at the highest level

·         Being a Tenor Lay Clark at St. George’s Windsor Castle and singing in the chapel each day 

·         Singing the Tenor Solo at the Queen’s 70th Birthday celebration and having a ‘nice chat’ with her afterwards

·         Getting a chance side-gig with the Seattle Opera that he thought was for one show (Tosca) which lasted for nine years. 

He also talks very honestly about having to leave the role in Windsor Castle due to the breakdown in his singing voice and facing the challenge of vocal nodules in recent years. 

Neil is a real student of music and I guarantee you will learn something from our chat.  I am also pretty sure it will be the only time you will hear the phrase ‘crazy enharmonic chord progression’ on Music Talks. 

Neil’s song selections were 

60’s        Good Vibrations                               The Beach Boys 
70’s        More Than A Feeling                      Boston
80’s        He Knows You Know                      Marillion
90’s        Something To Save                          George Michael 
00’s        Just Listen                                            Ocean Lab
10’s        Ophelia                                                  The Lumineers
20’s        Happiness Is Easy                            Talk Talk 

Enjoy 😊

He lives in Raleigh NC and is a southerner born and bred with all the challenges and contradictions that brings. An only child he was born with cataracts in both eyes and was partially blind until the age of 50. He grew up surrounded by a music loving family and imagination and creativity were his best friends. He developed an interest in radio at an early age and used to sit in on the morning show at his local station which led to a career of almost 30 years in radio, spanning being a live DJ through to senior management. 

In 2012, after long term challenges with alcohol he found sobriety which continues to this day despite several subsequent life changing challenges.

During this period, he also met the love of his life Liz who he is now happily married to. Liz encouraged him to pursue his passion for music and writing and he is now a contributor to the pioneering roots music authority No Depression and his writing has also appeared in PopMatters, Americana UK, Albumism, and The Bitter Southerner.

He has interviewed and produced profiles on musicians as diverse as Isaac Hayes, Charlie Daniels, Little Richard, Kurt Vile and Daniel Lanois. In September 2021 he published the critically acclaimed biography of John Hiatt entitled “Have A Little Faith’ with a foreword by Elvis Costello.  

Do please look at Michael’s website https://michael-elliott.com/ where you will find numerous plaudits for his book from people such as Bonnie Raitt, Rosanne Cash and Rodney Crowell. 

Michael’s song choices were:

·         70’s -     East Bound and Down                                   Jerry Reed 

·         80’s -     Sweetheart Like You                                       Bob Dylan

·         90’s -     Buffalo River Home                                         John Hiatt

·         00’s -     Get Ur Freak On                                                Missy Elliott

·         10’s -     Drunk In Love                                                    Beyonce (feat. Jay-Z) 

·         20’s -     I Don’t Live Here Anymore                           The War on Drugs (feat. Lucius) 

Enjoy ! 

• Is a skateboarder from Northern Indiana 
• Has been a record collector since the age of 5
• Started programming a few years later 
• Became a father at 17 and a grandfather at 50 
• Dropped out of Grad School in 1995 to go on tour with Beastie Boys 
• Spent 20 years building digital music with Winamp, Yahoo!, Beats, & then Apple Music. 
• Moved to Paris in 2015 to start a new career as Chief Digital Officer at LVMH 
• Became, in Jan 2021, the Chief Experience Officer at Ledger where he’s leveraging all this experience and getting to grips  with the new world of digital assets 

In addition to Beastie Boys, Ian has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry including amongst others  The Pixies, Paul McCartney David Byrne, Brian Eno, Kanye West, Dr.Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and Trent Reznor,

A self-declared obsessive his music knowledge and taste is both wide and very deep, with ‘challenging’ being his go to choice although Joni Mitchell and Sade do creep in to his listening habits as well. 

Enjoy! 

• Is a skateboarder from Northern Indiana 
• Has been a record collector since the age of 5
• Started programming a few years later 
• Became a father at 17 and a grandfather at 50 
• Dropped out of Grad School in 1995 to go on tour with Beastie Boys 
• Spent 20 years building digital music with Winamp, Yahoo!, Beats, & then Apple Music. 
• Moved to Paris in 2015 to start a new career as Chief Digital Officer at LVMH 
• Became, in Jan 2021, the Chief Experience Officer at Ledger where he’s leveraging all this experience and getting to grips  with the new world of digital assets 

In addition to Beastie Boys, Ian has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry including amongst others  The Pixies, Paul McCartney David Byrne, Brian Eno, Kanye West, Dr.Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and Trent Reznor,

A self-declared obsessive his music knowledge and taste is both wide and very deep, with ‘challenging’ being his go to choice although Joni Mitchell and Sade do creep in as well. 

There were too many good stories to keep this to a single episode, so this is Part 1 with Part 2 to follow in a week 

Enjoy! 

·        20,000 downloads 

·        500 Followers on Facebook 

·        75 Episodes

I have done celebratory episodes at 25 and 50 episodes, and this felt like a good opportunity to look back over the past year and choose some of my favourite moments. 

I have chosen a different guest for each decade, and I believe these clips show the mix of music nerdery and great life stories that the show has become. I’m hoping it will also function as a nice introduction for potential guests to get a feel for what they have signed up for 😊 The clips I have chosen are 

60’s       Mark Spickett (Ep.55) - A Kunle A Tewo Adura - King Sunny Ade

Mark is a dear friend who tells the most fascinating stories of growing up in Africa. He poses the question ‘Was Dad a Spy?' and the clip finishes with a quick Ted Talk on African music in the 60’s and the delights of the talking drum. Due to time constraints i had to edit out the story of him seeing his dad held at gun point when he was 5! 

70’s       Malcolm Garrett MBE (Ep.70) - Surrounded by Stars - Amon Duul II

Malcolm is one of the most significant Graphic Designers the UK has produced, hence the MBE. He is most famous for his work in the 70’s and early 80’s with bands such Buzzcocks, Magazine, Duran Duran and Simple Minds. 
 In this clip Malcolm talks through his teenage years, his discovery of music, his use of hallucinogens and their impact on him and his subsequent work. He’s a fascinating man with an equally fascinating story

80’s       Julie Simpson (Ep.66) - Stand and Deliver - Adam and The Ants

I had the pleasure of working with Julie over many years and with good reason describe her as a ‘force of nature’. That comes across in every second of this clip where she talks us through her 80’s, her undying love for Adam and The Ants, Wham, Duran Duran and the role they play in connecting her to four friends from that time. 

90’s       Nick Sheppard (Ep.53) - More - Sisters of Mercy

Like many guests Nick talks with disarming honesty about what was going on for him during this decade and his desire for “More’. It culminates with the brilliant statement that ‘by the end of the 90’s I was a fully loaded sales dick’! Essential listening 😊 

00’s       Dave Cronen (Ep.63) Dave Cronen - Sea Song – Doves

Dave has never played a note of music in his life but has spent most of his career working in the music industry with bands such as Beastie Boys, At the Drive-In and Doves, who provide his song choice. Needless to say, he has fantastic stories and some great insights. 

10’s Justin Steiner (Ep.64) - Everything at Once – Superchunk

Justin has an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and came to the show through my dear friend Steven Routledge and the remarkable community that is Rockin’ the Suburbs (suburbspod.com). 
 I owe Justin a big thanks for turning me on to one of the best albums of 2022, Superchunk’s ‘Wild Loneliness’. 

20’s       Dan French (Ep.52) - Times Like These - Live Lounge Allstars

You can’t talk about the 2020’s without using the words ‘Covid’ and ‘Lockdown’. It spawned numerous remote collaborations, but Dan chose one of the best to close out his episode. The song choice is inspired and Dan’s sentiment at the end is one I absolutely subscribe to.  

Thanks to all my guests and to you for listening. Onwards we go :-) 

Whilst Jeff grew up in a political household and studied  Politics at Manchester University  being an MP was never in the plan, as can be seen by his subsequent career choice.  

After graduation he became the Entertainments Officer for Manchester Students Union which led on to a career as an event manager and DJ. He performed  regularly at V Festival and numerous club nights including  Poptastic in Manchester and Star in Leeds. 

He had lived almost all his life in Manchester and in 1997 he started to combine his DJ work with being a member of Manchester City Council. This eventually led in 2015 to an unexpected opportunity to become the MP for his ‘home seat’ of Withington in Manchester and he successfully regained the seat for Labour (from the Liberal Democrats). Last December, he was appointed as Shadow Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Music, a role for which he is clearly uniquely qualified. 

Jeff’s musical tastes and choices are as interesting as his CV. Like me he is a Springsteen devotee, and he gets a special Music Talks Award for choosing my favourite ever song – Thunder Road . His song choices are:

60’s       All My Loving                                                                                         The Beatles 

70’s       Thunder Road                                                                                        Bruce Springsteen 

80’s       What Difference Does It Make?                                                 The Smiths 

90’s       12 Reasons Why I Love Her                                                           My Life Story

00’s       Grey Day (Paper Faces Mix)                                                          Zoot Woman

10’s       Love Song                                                                                                   Lana Del Rey

20’s       I’ve Got You Under My Skin                                                            Frank Sinatra

Randy has two major passions in his life, Basketball and Music. The former was his career for over 20 years and is the reason for the title of the episode as he was a College Basketball Coach at seven different Universities across America. 

As for music, it’s been a lifelong passion that ‘has been there at the best of times and the worst of times.’ Randy has had to deal with both ends of that spectrum including the tragic loss of two of his daughters at a young age to a rare disease and overcoming his alcohol addiction (he has now been sober for 10 years). 

Despite so much adversity in his life Randy’s message, as you will hear, is one of hope which he imparts in his book ‘Rebound Forward’ and his work as an inspirational speaker and life coach. 

Friendships are everything to Randy and it’s no coincidence that he knows the performers on several his song selections, all of whom have spent time at Randy’s permanent residence which is a 35’ Winnebago that he has turned into his own musical Hall of Fame. 

This episode was also a great personal lesson for me. 

Given Randy is a Springsteen fan I was surprised to realise he is also a massive Ted Nugent fan. I am embarrassed to say, because of that, I did consider cancelling the recording as Ted’s politics and views on gun control are very different to mine and I did that awful thing of then making assumptions about who Randy was. 

I’m so pleased I resisted that thought and I will always be grateful to Randy for giving me a powerful reminder that ‘we have more in common than divides us’ and music is great common ground to occupy. 

Randy’s song selections are: 

50's - That'll Be The Day - Buddy Holly, The Crickets

60's - Journey To The Centre of the Mind - The Amboy Dukes

70's - China Grove - The Doobie Brothers

80's - Scarred But Smarter - Drivin N Cryin

90's - My Way Down - Chris Duarte Group

00's - It's Not You - Halestorm

10's - Oh My God - Sixx :A.M.

20's - Shapeshifting - Joe Satriani

In this episode we discuss a wide range of topics including  

·        Being born in Copenhagen and a rather unusual claim to fame 

·        Being raised by a single parent who was her music loving Dad 

·        Colorado to California in a Red 74 Corvette Stingray with two dachshunds

·        Living in LA in the 80’s, listening to KROQ, skipping school to go to the beach 

·        Her husband Greg mistaking the Waterboys for U2. 

·        The importance of mixtapes 

·        The power of the ‘Sales Hype Song’ 

·        The trials and tribulations of middle age 

·        The joy and challenges of bringing parents up 

·        How to be an executive record producer

·        Getting to a better place! 

I have always admired Kirsten’s energy, passion, and openness and for me they shine through in our chat. 

It’s also clear that music plays an important part in her life and her song choices were: 

70’s       Take It Easy                                                            The Eagles 

80’s       Where The Streets Have No Name          U2

90’s       Enter Sandman                                                     Metallica 

00’s       Get It Together                                                      Seal 

10’s       Patience                                                                    Tame Impala 

20’s       Windows Are Rolled Down                           Amos Lee 

Originally from Indiana, USA, Beth has lived abroad for the last 17 years. That means she knows how to drink tea with milk, but still appreciates it over ice.

Over her career she’s worked in the entertainment and travel industries in the US, the government in New Zealand, and financial services in London. 

Beth now helps corporate leaders improve their public speaking, writing, and storytelling skills — no mean feat! — and runs workshops for teams to strengthen their creativity and communication skills. 

You can find further details on her website: www.beth-collier.com

She also produces a great newsletter called Curious Minds which is full of positive, encouraging, inspirational and FUN stories. Beth loves to weave pop culture into business lessons, and it works! 

You can subscribe to Curious Minds at https://bethcollier@substack.com

Beth’s song choices are: 

70’s Last Dance                   Donna Summer 

80’s Express Yourself       Madonna

90’s  November Rain        Guns N’ Roses

00’s  Toxic                                Britney Spears 

10’s Nightcall                         Kavinsky

20’s  Dreams                          The Cranberries 

We touched on a whole raft of other artists in our discussion and you can find a song from each on this extensive and great Playlist - Enjoy 

You just need to cut and paste this link into your browser 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/48A3TVD0htcBoX60e7htaJ?si=37b1395ae7fd4fc0

He also talks about developing a deep-seated sense of fairness and that, along with his strong social conscience, can clearly be heard in his first four song choices. 
 
 Kevin's father worked in the mining industry and that meant a lot of moving around in childhood years which has continued into adulthood. Kevin moved to Australia in 2014 and is now a resident but has also spent time living and working in the US (Seattle) , New Zealand and Singapore. 
 
He is married to Jodie and they have two children. He describes Jodie (and my wife Laura!) as having ' a lot of spunk’. He can say that, I am far too smart to comment :-). In all seriousness, Kevin's last two song choices are inspired by Jodie, and they clearly show the deep love he has for her. 
 
 The title of the episode comes from Kevin's 'final thoughts' and is a statement that I totally subscribe to. Those 'final thoughts' also include one of my favourite pieces of feedback about Music Talks which is 

'I feel like I talked about things I only ever think about'

Thank you, Kevin! 

His song choices are: 

60's     The Doors                 Five to One 

70’s     The Jam                      The Eton Rifles 

80’s     The Smiths                Oscillate Wildly 

90’s     Bily Bragg                   Accident Waiting To Happen 

00’s     The National             Slow Show 

10’s     Hilltop Hoods           I Love It 

20’s     alt-J                                 U&ME 

It really is more of the same in a good way. The opinions are as strong, the energy is as high, the connections are great, and the stories are fascinating. 

In between a set of eclectic and considered song choices we cover a lot of topics including:  

• Malcolm’s love of Sigue Sigue Sputnik and how influential and prescient they were. 
• His fascination with the future, his Jerry Andersen collection and James Bond.
• The move into Digital & his role in merging & connecting the Digital & Analogue worlds. 
• What makes bad design. 
• The connection between Throbbing Gristle and Sex Pistol 
• Getting an MBE
• The work he does in Education & his desire to raise the profile of the Design Industry.

Malcolm’s song choices are: 

30–40 Garbage               Stupid Girl                        1995

40-50    Rammstein        Engel                                   1997

50-60    X-TG                      All That Is My Own      2012

60-66    Billie Eilish         No Time to Die               2021

Enjoy :-)

Malcolm has a global reputation for his influence on graphic design and popular culture, both through his landmark designs for clients including Buzzcocks, Duran Duran, Boy George, Simple Minds and Peter Gabriel, and through his pioneering role in championing interaction and digital communications since the early 1990s, with an approach he refers to as ‘connected communications’. 

He starts this episode by saying ‘I love music and talking about music’ and given his deep involvement with the industry, and some of its biggest bands, over 40+ years, then he has a host of stories to tell. For that reason, this is a two-part episode as there was just too many great stories, observations and connections to squeeze into one. 

Given Malcolm’s creative background it’s no surprise that he also tweaked with the format. His choices are from his own decades (1-10, Teens, Twenties) rather than the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s etc. and all are female artists or bands with female vocalists. 

In this Part 1 we go from Malcolm’s birth in Northwich in 1956, the massive influence of Liverpool in the 60’s, his first record at the age of 8 (Can’t Buy Me Love) , education in Manchester, the impact of mind altering drugs, the life changing ‘collision point ‘ that was Punk  and working with bands such as Buzzcocks, Magazine, Duran Duran, Simple Minds and Culture Club. 

Enjoy 😊 

His formative years were spent between New Hampshire and Washington State, but he has subsequently lived In Ohio, Tucson, Boston, and Minneapolis as well as spending four years in the UK, indulging his Anglophilia, in the Noughties. He now resides in Prague and is adamant that he won’t be moving again. 

I have always believed that travel and living away from home gives you more of a world view and that comes across strongly in David’s song choices and his reasons for making them. 

He also has a host of great stories including: 

·        Elvis Costello providing a musical epiphany on Saturday Night Live on 17/12/77

·        Breaking into the back door of a gig to see The Ramones 

·        Having Jonathan Richman sing to him on the sidewalk before a show 

·        His love of The Jam and a pilgrimage to Bracklesham Bay 

·        Seeing Nirvana Live on the day ‘Nevermind’ was released 

In David’s own words ‘he may have spent his career in finance, but his inner punk was never far away ‘😊 

David’s song choices are: 

60’s       Mose Allison                                  If You’re Going to the City (1968) 

70’s       The Jam                                          Saturday’s Kids 

80’s       Los Lobos                                       One Time One Night 

90’s       Lucina Williams                                           2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten

00’s       Corner Shop                                  Soul School 

10’s       The Beat                                         How Can You Stand There? 

20’s       Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby        Vote That Fucker Out 

Rachel's song choices were: 
 
70's -   Suicide                             Ghost Rider

80’s -   Pride                                  U2

90’s -   Fake Plastic Trees      Radiohead 

00’s -   Just Be Simple              Songs: Ohia 

10’s -   Slomo                                 Slowdive

20’s -   Like I Used To                Sharon Von Etten, Angel Olsen  

A song from every artist we mention , including Rachel's song choices, can be found here. It's a great mix. Enjoy :-) 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3o1DfLLAV5ODZqcNBcjG0Q?si=ab282dbadf1544f3

Harris was introduced to Music Talks by previous guests Steven Routledge and Justin Steiner who are fellow members of the brilliant community that has grown up around the Rockin’ The Suburbs Podcast and now Radio Station -  suburbspod.com

Like many of my guests Harris isn’t just a music lover he’s a music scholar who immerses himself in the music he listens to and the bands that he likes. As he says at one point in our chat “I’m always listening”. As you would expect all that listening spans a wide range of musical styles and to my delight a lot of bands and songs that I had simply never heard of. As well as a fascinating chat it’s going to make for a great Playlist :-). 

Harris lives in South Carolina and in many ways is very rooted in the South and can trace his families roots back to the 1700’s.  But in his adult life he has also built a real connection to Germany and has lived and worked there for several years.  

Those two very differing cultures are reflected in some of his song choices and are also the reason for the title of the episode. Elektro Kultur is the title of his radio show on Rockin’ The Suburbs Radio that focuses on electronic music and the culture that surrounds it.  

And in amongst all this music chat is a lovely heart-warming about how Harris met his wife Rachel on Twitter after they connected through a shared love of Baseball and specifically the Atlanta Braves. They later realised they also had a shared passion for music, and both had Radio shows. The rest, as they say, is history and I’m a sucker for a happy ending 😊 

These are Harris’s song choices and please remember that if your app supports ‘Chapters’ so does Music Talks 

6:34                    The 70's - Jim Croce - Bad Bad Leroy Brown

9:51                    The 80's - The Silo's - Tennessee Fire

33:54                  The 90's - Southern Culture on the Skids - Biscuit Eater

46:41                  The 00's - DJ Koze - Brutalga Square

56:30                  The 10's - Low - What Part of Me

1:04:23              The 20's - Lucy Dacus - First Time

Julie is the youngest of 9 children and was born in Germany but grew up in Basingstoke. Her story is an inspirational one of starting with little and triumphing over adversity. 

This started at 14 when her much loved father, a Sergeant Major, died of a heart attack whilst she was with him.  Leaving school at 16, she eventually found her way into the IT sector and in 2003 took the brave step of setting up her own company Resource IT, which is now one of the most successful marketing agencies focused on the I.T. Channel. 

Music for Julie has always been about joy, passion, and community but in recent years, particularly after her Mum passed away, some of that has gone and so appearing in this episode is part of an effort to regain some of that joy and passion. I sincerely hope its successful!

So, we talk about music, but we also rightly talk at length about the challenges of being a woman in an IT sector that even today is 87% male. Julie is a co-founder of the Women in Technology Network (WIT), a global not-for-profit organisation that is centred on driving the diversity and inclusion agenda. In just under four years WIT is now represented in over 40 countries with over 3,500 members. 

You can find more details at Home (womenintechnology.org)

Regular listeners will know I love my connections but I am not proud of this one. 87% of the IT Industry is male and it appears 87% of the guests on Music Talks have also been male. Please help me change that ! 

Julie would be the first to acknowledge that her song choices are mainstream, but they are also songs that she absolutely loves and that bring back a lot of great memories and positive messages. Enjoy! 

60's - Mamas & The Papas - California Dreaming

70's - Bay City Rollers - Bye Bye Baby

80's - Adam & The Ants - Stand & Deliver

90's - The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony

00's - George Michael - As

10's - David Guetta, Sia - Titanium

20's - Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande - Rain On Me

Mat has many strings to his bow but the first thing that will pop for any music fan is that he has been Johnny Marr’s Art Director since 2012 and has produced a distinct and impressive body of work over that period. 

Mat was born in Nottingham in 1979 but very deliberately went to University in Manchester in 1998 because of his love of the city’s culture, both art and music. That interest and passion continues to this day and in recent years Mat was involved in two celebrated exhibitions examining the impact of Factory Records (Use Hearing Protection) and the work of Joy Division and New Order (True Faith).  

It wasn’t a direct route to the work Mat does today and his is an inspiring story of the need to listen to what your gut is telling you and being brave enough to start again. It’s also a really encouraging story that, in the case of his work with Johnny Marr, serendipity will sometimes come along to help a little. 

Mat’s song choices are below, and you will see that he doesn’t just listen to music from Manchester. However, for me the highlight of this episode is the excitement and joy that comes through when Mat talks about being 15 and discovering Oasis and Britpop.

Enjoy!

70’s       Joy Division                      Shadowplay

80’s       Pet Shop Boys                 West End Girls 

90’s       Oasis                                     Some Might Say 

00’s       Madonna                             Hung Up 

10’s       Ibrahim Maalouf             Defile 1962

20’s       Sault                                        Wildfires

They describe themselves as ‘mind meld musical brothers’ but the interesting thing about their friendship is that, to date, they have not actually met face to face as Justin lives near Chicago and Steven near Stirling, in Scotland. 

They met through the brilliant Rockin’ The Suburbs Podcast (https://www.suburbspod.com) which, when Covid hit, started ‘Friday Night Hootenanny’s’. This was a group of people, geographically disperse, connected by a love of music, meeting up to drink, chat and play! 

Justin talks very movingly about that experience and what a lifeline it was during the challenges of lockdown and Covid. For me, it’s an inspirational story of the power of music and technology to connect people and long may it continue! 

Before we get to that though Justin takes us on a fascinating musical journey from The Muppets, through classical music in Dad’s car, Country music, Top 40 Radio, the musical peak that is 1997 and the desire to explore and find new music. He also reminds us how much the technology that delivers music has changed over that time.  

His song choices are: 

70’s       The Muppet Show Theme           The Muppets

80’s       Michael Jackson                            Billie Jean 

90’s       Matthew Sweet                            Girlfriend 

00’s       Nada Surf                                       Always Love 

10’s       Superchunk                                   Everything at Once 

20’s       Jeff Rosenstock                             Ohio Tpe

In a great example of ‘giving back’ Dave was also a Senior Lecturer at the Academy of Contemporary Music for 5 years and graduated as a member of the FHEA in August 2020.

Given his career and wealth of experience it’s no surprise that Dave’s song choices are an interesting and eclectic mix and the stories that accompany them are fascinating, funny and moving. 

The song choices are: 

60’s –  The Velvet Underground      -           Venus in Furs 

70’s -   The Selector                                  -           The Selector

80’s -   Julian Cope                                    -           Kolly Kibber’s Birthday

90’s -   This Mortal Coil                          -           You And Your Sister

00’s -   Doves                                                -           Sea Song 

10’s -   Flat Worms                                    -           Red Hot Sand 

20’s -   Wesley Gonzalez                        -           Change

Enjoy :-) 

In a wide-ranging conversation, we explore (amongst other things) the magic of live performance, the importance of shared experience, the joy of playing live, the art of song writing, and the fact that music was around 40.000 years ago in Europe with the bone flute! 

It’s fair to say that we both believe music really matters and Mark finishes the episode with Nietzsche’s quote:

“Without music, life would be a mistake”. 

In typical style Mark tweaked the format and chose all live performances for his song choices and each day for the next two weeks I will be posting those clips (and some of Mark’s shortlist) on  https://www.facebook.com/musictalkspod

His choices were: 

60’s       The Clancy Brothers       The Parting Glass 

70’s       Rory Gallagher                    As The Crow Flies 

80’s       Talk Talk                                   Living In Another World 

90’s       Massive Attack                   Karmacoma

00’s       Brandi Carlile                      The Story 

10’s       Gillian Welch                       Revelator 

20’s       Bob Dylan                             I Contain Multitudes 

We also talk about the benefits and dangers of streaming technology, and I know Mark has some deep concerns particularly around Spotify and its CEO Daniel Ek. I respect those views and therefore there is no Spotify playlist of songs from this episode. 

Mark also performs live himself, with Farmer’s Markets being a speciality. You can find some of his recordings at: 

https://soundcloud.com/markacroft/speed-trap-town?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing .  https://soundcloud.com/markacroft

When you start a company with as bold and inspiring a mission as that you must have strong views and a real belief in them. Roy shares a lot of those views and thoughts during our conversation and whilst I don’t necessarily agree with everything, he says to his immense credit he’s never anything less than thought provoking.

I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and got real insight and inspiration from it. I hope the same will be true for you.  

If you want to dig deeper into Roy’s thinking, then last year he published a book which is the title of the episode ‘Creativity Without Frontiers’. It’s available here: 

Creativity Without Frontiers: How to make the invisible visible by lighting the way into the future: Sharples, Roy S: 9781736568606: Amazon.com: Books

but as we discuss in the episode, visiting your local independent bookshop might be preferable 😊

Also try and take a look at Unknown Origins | Creative Design Studio | Unleash The Power Of Creativity

It was no surprise that Roy’s selections were wide and varied and included music from two film soundtracks. His selections were: 

·        70’s      Walk On the Wild Side                                            Lou Reed 

·        80’s      What Difference Does It Make?                        The Smiths 

·        90’s      Fade Into You                                                                 Mazzy Star

·        00’s      Comptine d’un autre été, l’apres-midi             Yann Tiersen 

·        10’s      King And Lionheart                                                     Of Monsters and Men 

·        20’s      No Time To Die                                                               Billie Eilish 

Enjoy! 

Elisa was born and grew up in rural Maine, with a strong Scottish and Irish cultural heritage. That was undoubtedly a key influence in words, language and music becoming a lifelong passion and in latter years (after a successful 10-year sojourn into Insurance sales) a writing and editing career. 

She has travelled and worked extensively across Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe which has included writing assignments in exotic locations such as Bali, Lesvos and Aberdeen. (Yes, this a lady who has fallen in love with Aberdeen!)

 Her work has been published in numerous prestigious publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Huffington Post. 

In 2015 Elisa founded the editing and writing coaching agency craftyourcontent.com, where she oversees the acquisition and cultivation of a talented team of word and content geniuses while also encouraging the development of clients’ writing and thought prowess. 

The title of the episode comes from a Frank O’Hara poem, which in a Music Talks first, Elisa reads and talks us through its connection to her song choice from Norah Jones and the wider subject of creativity. 

These are Elisa’s song choices: 

80’s       Def Leppard                                   -          Pour Some Sugar On Me 

90’s       Pearl Jam                                         -          Betterman 

00’s       Norah Jones                                   -          Painter Song

10’s       Labrinth                                            -           Beneath Your Beautiful (feat.Emile Sande) 

20’s       Santana, India-Arie, Yo-Yo Ma    -    While My Guitar Gently Weeps 

It’s always good to know that things you like are also enjoyed by others but the real joy for me is gaining new insight into albums I’ve enjoyed or discovering albums that I have missed. 

My hope is that this episode will do some of that for you. 

As in previous years I am joined by my Podcast pal Steven Routledge and we both talk through our Top 10 albums. A new addition this year is that we also play a short clip from each of them. 

In this second part we count down from 5 to our respective Favourite Album of the Year. 

I'd love to hear what you think of these choices and particularly if there is new music you like. You can do that by emailing me at musictalkspod@outlook.com , I really look forward to hearing from you. 

I hope you had a great Christmas and best wishes for 2022. I look forward to it being another great year for music. 

If you just wabt to listen to the music Steven and I chose this playlist has all the tracks in the order we discussed them - enjoy 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1kjR6dQHCsmnmPMdyZ9rkj?si=76dbc82a1a6b43c7

It’s always good to know that things you like are also enjoyed by others but the real joy for me is gaining new insight into albums I’ve enjoyed or discovering albums that I have missed. 

My hope is that this episode will do some of that for you. 

As in previous years I am joined by my Podcast pal Steven Routledge and we both talk through our Top 10 albums. A new addition this year is that we also play a short clip from each of them. 

In this part we count down from 10 to 5 and in Part 2 (released in two weeks on 30/12/21) we go from 5 to 1. 

Please let me know what you think of these choices and particularly if there is new music you like. You can do that by emailing me at musictalkspod@outlook.com , I really look forward to hearing from you. 

Have a great Christmas and here’s to 2022 being another great year for music. 

Stephen was born and grew up in a small fishing town in the Northeast of England called North Shields with the city metropolis of Newcastle only eight miles away. 

After University in Sheffield and then a time living and working in London, he took the big step in 1995 to move to the US which is where he has lived for almost all of the last 26 years. 

Most of that time has been spent in Southern California although there were spells in Atlanta and Seattle which is where we met. Today he has the good fortune to live in Carmel in a house he and his wife Kim have spent the last three years building. 

Stephen clearly still feels a very strong connection to the Northeast of England and that is a theme that runs through his song choices but also his shows in his love of football and Newcastle United in particular. That said he does tell a fascinating story of being a 13-year-old and going over to the dark side for a year when a next-door neighbor moved from Newcastle United to play for fierce local rival Sunderland (and they won the FA Cup!) . 

In amongst the music, we talk about being born in his Grandparents house and the close relationship Stephen had with them, favourite concert venues in the US and his view of America in 1995 and how that has changed somewhat today. 

Like a lot of guests David Bowie is a major figure in Stephen’s musical journey and two of his song choices are Bowie songs but in an interesting twist neither are performed by the great man himself. 

Stephen’s song choices are :

·        60’s       - The Animals                  House of the Rising Sun 

·        70’s       - Mott The Hoople          All the Young Dudes 

·        80’s       - Bruce Springsteen       The River 

·        90’s       - Sting                               Englishman In New York 

·        00’s       - U2                                    Beautiful Day 

·        10’s       - Nine Inch Nails              I Can’t Give Everything Away 

·        00’s       - Devon Gilfillian             The Good Life

Enjoy :-)

Born in Taiwan, she moved with her parents to the U.S. at the age of four. She grew up in California before moving to New York in her twenties, where she spent a total of 12 years. In her own words she has now “fulfilled her filial duty” by moving back to California where she now lives, and her parents are a mile up the road. 

Yi Shun has published two books and has a young adult novel “in the works”: 

·        Pin Ups, a memoir (Little Bound Books, 2020) 

·        Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu (Shade Mountain Press, 2016). 

You can find out more about Yi Shun’s life and work at Home - The Good Dirt

In this episode, in addition to Yi Shun’s musical journey, we talk about: 

·        Early memories of Taiwan 

·        The bifurcation of being Taiwanese and growing up in the U.S 

·        Being an Anglophile and her love of Cornish Pasties 

·        Her first, and very unpleasant experience, of  “Born in the USA”

·        Our joint love of New York 

·        Spending four months studying in Paris 

·        Binge watching “Box Sets” 

·        The beauty of the American National Parks 

·        Some of the positive impacts of Covid 

·        Why “Thunder Road” is such a special song 

Yi Shun’s wide ranging and eclectic song choices were: 

70’s       Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes      If You Don’t Know Me by Now           

80’s       Neneh Cherry                                              Buffalo Stance 

90’s       Ashley MacIssac                                         Sleepy Maggie

00’s       Mosquitos                                             Boombox 

10’s       Carly Rae Jepson                                        Call Me Maybe 

20’s       Alvin & The Chipmunks                           Lunchbox 

Enjoy :-)

·        Being born in Barking, East London into very humble beginnings. 

·        At age 7, the family move  to Basingstoke  to try and better their situation 

·        His lifelong love affair with Liverpool FC. 

·        His parents’ divorce and the impact that had both at the time and later in life 

·        Leaving school at 16 and going into the Army for 5 years 

·        Playing semi-professional football for Basingstoke Town 

·        His career as a hairdresser (with distinctions!) 

·        His 30 years in the I.T industry including stints at both Apple and Microsoft 

·        The challenges of on-line dating and his delight when he met Julia 

·        His newfound passion for cycling and his plan to ride from Lands’ End to John o'Groats 

Phil made the following song choices 
 
 60’s       Jerry and the Pacemakers                You’ll Never Walk Alone 

70’s       The Jam                                                        Down in The Tube Station At Midnight 

80’s       Duran Duran                                              Save a Prayer  

90’s       Soul II Soul                                                   Back to Life 

00’s       Coldplay                                                       Clocks 

10’s       Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars)    Uptown Funk 

20’s       Terence Trent D’Arby                             Dance Little Sister 

A friend of a previous guest Dan French, Mark listened to episode 52 and liked it so much he decided he wanted to come on the show, which is a process that always pleases me. 

In amongst the music we talk about: 

·        His Grandfather’s houseboat, Calisto, on the Grand Union Canal 

·        Born in West London in 1962 then moving to South Africa as a 10-year-old. 

·        Returning from that strict and strait-laced environment four years later to a UK at the   height of the punk era

·        Getting his black belt in Kick Boxing at the age of 42 

·        Becoming a mature student and graduating with a BA Hons at the age of 47 

·        Starting a I year contract in the Czech Republic in 2005 and never leaving! 

·        Marrying Daria in 2010 

·        Starting his own company (called Calisto) in 2012 

·        The delights of train travel in Europe 

·        And last but not least, the joy of Bruce Springsteen and seeing him live in Vienna, Prague  & Berlin. 

Like myself, Mark doesn’t just listen to Bruce, and he made some great song choices for this episode: 

60’s                     The Beatles                     Michelle 

70’s                     Pink Floyd                        Wish You Were Here 

80’s                     Bruce Springsteen       Hungry Heart 

90’s                     Genesis                               I Can’t Dance 

00’s                     Kylie Minogue                Can’t Get You Out of My Head 

10’s                     Emeli Sande                     Breathing Under Water 

20’s                     Texas                                    Mr Haze 

We also touched on a wide range of artists and songs during our chat , all of whom can be found in this playlist 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/41TCP4zadSAHK8WjVS7cZV?si=c9fb1cff028746d3
 Enjoy!

Mark also makes a great set of musical choices a three of which were new to me. His choices are : 

90’s       Massive Attack                                            Blue Lines 

00’s       Federico Aubele                                          Maria Jose (Toy Hernandez Remix) 

10’s       Michael Kiwanuka                                      One More Night 

20’s       Moby                                                                  Extreme Ways – Reprise Version 

Bonus   Cesaria Evoria, Ismael Lo                       Africa Nossa 

In amongst the stories and music Mark talks very movingly about discovering the concept of “Third Culture Kids”. These are people who were raised in a culture other than their parents' or the culture of their country of nationality and who live in a different environment during a significant part of their child development years. This is exactly the experience Mark had and I for one learnt a lot here. I hope you find the same. 

Enjoy!

I have known for many years that Mark’s story is an interesting one but as if often the case with Music Talks, I have only now realised exactly HOW interesting that story is, and how many facets there are to it. 

My goal is always to keep episodes to a maximum of 75 minutes but in Mark’s case there was just too many great stories for me to do that and so this is a two-part episode. 

In this part one we cover the first three decades of Mark’s life through to the end of the 80’s. In amongst making three great and diverse musical choices Mark talks us through: 

·        The story of his remarkable parents Bill and Marian

·        Being born in Essex but then growing up, from the age of 2 , in Nigeria. 

·        At age 5, seeing a Nigerian soldier put a  rifle to his dad’s head

·        Suspicions that his dad was a spy! 

·        A family friend who had two company land rovers and two company camels

·        Being sent to Boarding School in England as a 10-year-old

·        How dealing with that culture shock has impacted him 

·        His lifelong passion for flying and almost becoming a BA pilot 

·        His 9-month trip around Australia and South Africa with his best friend Mike, where he almost died in a blazing car and was smuggled across a South African Border. 

And that is only a selection of the stories in this fascinating and compelling episode!  

I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did, and Part 2 will be out in 7 days’ time on October 7th 

David was born and grew up near Chesterfield in Derbyshire and had an idyllic and very stable childhood. That geographical stability changed when he started his career in the transport sector which has seen him live and work in numerous places in the UK and latterly Europe as well as travelling widely to places such as Macau, Hawaii and Tokyo. After all that movement David and his wife Lyndsey have, for many years, been firmly settled in Farnham Common with their two children Daisy & Zac. 

David’s lifelong passion has been art and his father-in-law is the esteemed Art Restorer Eric Harding who received the OBE for his work on restoring the “Leonardo Cartoon” which a gunman shot at in 1987. That passion and skill came together in 2015 with the launch of the art business  loveourart.co.uk which Lyndsey has run very successfully since. 

David’s musical journey has been a long and varied one and his love of music shines through as he talks through each one of his excellent choices which are 

60’s       The Beatles                      She Loves You 

70’s       Queen                                  It’s Late 

80’s       Joy Division                      She’s Lost Control 

90’s       Radiohead                         Fake Plastic Trees 

00’s       The Strokes                       Last Nite 

10’s       Arctic Monkeys               R U Mine 

20’s       Fontaines D.C.                 Too Real 

70’s     Kenny Rogers                                                                                             The Gambler 

80’s     Guns N’Roses                                                                                You Could Be Mine 

90’s     Sisters of Mercy                                                                                                         More

00’s     Foo Fighters                                                                                               The Pretender

10’s     Pete Tong/Jules Buckley/Maxi Jazz                                                          Insomnia 

20’s     Jackie Wilson                    (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher 

These selections and a song from every artist mentioned is included in this Spotify Playlist. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4LGLLlIg3V802CAOBLl1oY?si=c5bc8bff90fd48e4

As is often the case with my guests there is a work connection however in this case Dan worked with my brother Jim in the 90’s, not with myself. His name has come up regularly since that time and I am delighted he came on the show. 

To say Dan is an avid consumer of music is an understatement. This episode is a veritable Cook’s tour of the last six decades of music and in this 75-minute episode we manage to reference a 124 artists and songs spanning a whole range of genres and trends. 

Somehow Dan managed to whittle that down to these seven great choices 

60’s       The Beatles                                                     Revolution

70’s        Derek & The Dominos                             Layla 

80’s       Joan Armatrading                                       All the Way from America 

90’s       Jeff Buckley                                                     Hallelujah 

00’s       The Magic Numbers                                   Forever Lost

10’s       Adele                                                                    Someone Like You 

20’s       Live Lounge All Stars                                   Times Like These 

In amongst all that music Dan has some fascinating stories including: 

·        An extended road trip to the US and Canada in the early 80’s 

·        Moving a Buick Regal Sedan from Seattle to San Bernadino on a motorcycle licence 

·        Working with  big  names in I.T including James Martin & Tom Gruber (creator of Siri) 

·        The journey to becoming CEO and owner of Consider Solutions

·        Making his daughters late for school by taking them to the IOW Festival 

·        Forming the band Bromma Plan and playing in Amsterdam, Vienna, Ibiza, and Edinburgh 

Dan is the proud father of two wonderful daughters, Hannah and Amy and now lives in Weybridge with his partner Georgia and her children Raff and Sienna. 

Here is the link to the hit packed 123 songs on Dan's Playlist. Just cut and paste into your browser and enjoy :-) 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2AZVM8UnRatkxStyI8kxSA?si=3a6ddb728cd445a8

Born and raised in Utrecht Ben’s working life started with four  years in the Dutch Navy followed by a long career in I.T with Cap Gemini and then Microsoft. He is now happily retired and living in Spain with his wife Illonka and their son Joe who will shortly be returning to university in Canada. 

Ben is a self-confessed Anglophile and this shows through in his musical choices, his dress sense and his unstinting devotion to Paul Weller and “The Arsenal” . Despite the latter he really is a nice guy 😊 and he has a raft of stories along with some great song choices, all of which are of course from the UK: 

60’s                 The Rolling Stones               Street Fighting Man 

70’s                 The Jam                                       In The City 

80’s                 Elvis Costello                           Tramp the Dirt Down 

90’s                 Oasis                                             Champagne Supernova 

00’s                 Arctic Monkeys                      From The Ritz To The Rubble 

10’s                 Stereophonics                          C’est La Vie 

20’s                 Parklife                                         Blur 

Enjoy ! 
 

Jesse Jackson – 60’s            Sam Cooke              A Change Is Gonna Come 

Paul Simpson – 70’s             Jethro Tull                Wond’ring Aloud 

Steve Clayton – 80’s            U2                                 Where the Streets Have No Name 

John Wills – 90’s                   June Tabor                The Great Valerio 

Jo Berry – 00’s                        Keane                          Everybody’s Changing 

Brain Painting – 10’s           Dr.Dog                        That Old Black Hole 

Mike Pegg – 20’s                   The Beatles               Here Comes The Sun 

I have compiled a Spotify Playlist of all the song choices that have been made over the previous 49 episodes and it neatly comes to 300 songs. 

It may not be the biggest or the best Playlist but it’s certainly the most “decade-consistent” you will find and a must for all family parties 😊 You can find it here: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3LAzrJyUdP0VyjaSzhyGLE?si=881988ca4a1d4adc


If you would like to get in touch, or you are interested in being on the show, then please mail me on musictalkspod@outlook.com, ping me on Twitter @musictalkspod. or follow https://www.facebook.com/musictalkspod and message me there. 

I look forward so much to hearing from you. Enjoy, onwards we go, and thanks for listening 

“Music was my first love, and it will be my last, music of the future, music of the past”.  

It’s very clear that those lyrics apply to Mike, and in this episode, he takes us on his journey since the 70’s to seek out fun, interesting, innovative and challenging music, that at times has also been a guide and a moral compass for him. 

He now lives in London, with his wife Carmen and close to his two children Roslyn & Rees. Originally from Llanelli in Wales, Mike has travelled to over 30 countries during his career and had stints living in Brussels and San Paulo. All that travel has influenced his musical tastes and during our chat I believe he touches on more categories of music than any other previous guest. 

Mike is a deeply curious technologist and writer with a lifelong passion for learning. In 2013 he launched his own business https://www.learn-tech.io/ with the goal of making the complex simple and democratising deep technology. 

In addition to music Mike loves science, culture, modern art, and cinema. Being Welsh, rugby is inevitably added to that list. 

Mike’s song choices are: 

60’s                      Led Zeppelin                                                    Ramble On 

70’s                      The Who                                                          Love Reign O’er Me 

80’s                       New Order                                                       Blue Monday

90’s                      Buena Vista Social Club                                Buena Vista Social Club 

00’s                       Elsa Soares                                                       Mas Que Nada 

10’s                      Tom Jones                                                       Did Trouble Me 

20’s                       Roslyn Lloyd                                                    Wait & See 

In addition we also played out with “Eclipse” from Pink Floyd. 

Mike's wide ranging taste in music is represented in this Spotify Playlist which contains a song from every artist mentioned in the episode. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4SsorofgvtomcjAI9qQ5JX?si=0b971ba859e74bf0

·        His epic US road trip in the 70's

·        Attending Glastonbury in the 80's 

·        How ZZ Top led him to IBM

·        A magical musical experience in a traffic jam 

·        Finding a musical middle ground with his son

·        Discovering his next great musical love (Pearl Jam)

·        The sad passing  of his friend Matthew Seligman who played with Bowie at Live Aid. 

Richard's Song Choices are: 

·        50's - Bill Evans - Peace Piece 

·        60's - Booker T & the MG's - Time Is Tight 

·        70's - Grateful Dead - Friend of the Devil 

·        80's - ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin' 

·        90's - Guru (feat. Donald Byrd)  - Loungin' 

·        00's - Mozart - Dove Sono (Marriage of Figaro) 

·        10's - Pearl Jam - All The Way 

·        20's - the Soft Boys - I Wanna Destroy You 

In addition to the 57 songs and artists mentioned in the episode Richard provided a further 34 songs he wanted included. The complete (& extended) playlist can be found at :  

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7aLqMCzUWsjBzfK36M8l2o?si=e68bd7fc7b554755

60’s     The Corries                                        Killecrankie 

70’s     Donovan                                             Song for John 

80’s     Bruce Springsteen                         Racing in The Street 

90’s     Annie Lennox                                   Walking on Broken Glass 

00’s     Arcade Fire                                        Keep the Car Running 

10’s     Bellowhead                                        New York Girls 

20’s     Christine and the Queens          Tilted 

These songs together with a song from every artist mentioned can be found on the Playlist below. 

Enjoy! 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0gFTW3uF4ftIj5slZ4kZYC?si=69e366b34b254414

Born in 1982, Levi grew up in the Southern US near Lafayette in what he describes as the “Cajun Hub” Since 2008 he has lived in LA having moved there via Chicago (sorry Wilco fans I couldn’t resist!) 

Levi is clearly proud and grateful for his Southern Heritage and the story about his Ronnie Milsap choice is just priceless. But he is also very much an Anglophile, particularly when it comes to music. 

And so, in this episode there is another tweak to the Music Talks format.  In addition to his choices from the 80’s onwards I also ask Levi to choose his favourite UK songs of the 60’s and 70’s, He makes two great choices and introduces me to a great BBC podcast called Soul Music which is a treasure trove of great content. I would highly recommend it (after you have listened to this episode clearly 😊) 

These are Levi’s choices in the order we discuss them: 

80’s -     Ronnie Milsap                   - If You Don’t Want Me To 

90’s -     The Wallflowers               - One Headlight

00’s -     Arctic Monkeys                 - Fluorescent Adolescent 

10’s -     Part Time                           - Night Drive 

20’s -     The Dustbowl Revival     - Just One Song 

60’s -     The Kinks                           - Waterloo Sunset

70’s -     Sex Pistols                          - EMI 

As always, we covered a lot of musical ground in this chat and this playlist has all of Levi’s choices (with one exception!) along with a song from each artist we mention. Just cut & paste into your browser. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0ySyEmzYAAiglVVZOKepcg?si=150f50ac0d6c4d28

Steve is married to Naomi and is the proud father of Hattie and Billy and is  grandfather to 3-year-old Leon. 

As well as exploring Steve’s career journey we also talk about: 

·        The importance of family, friends, and memories

·        The delights of football, fishing, and cricket 

·        Seeing Dire Straits in an ice rink 

·        Sarah Ferguson telling 600 people he is Jim Carey. 

·        Meeting Margaret Thatcher with Peter Stringfellow (yes him again!) 

·        The importance of getting tested for Prostate Cancer 

·        A 7-week holiday in New Zealand with his daughter Hattie 

·        Becoming a Magistrate 

We  touched on a lot of  music during our chat and this is reflected in the 64 songs included in this Spotify Playlist ( just cut and paste into your browser) 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7fItMoylIYZ0bL8Zse47NB?si=66cb11c14708420a

These were Steve’s song choices: 

60’s – David Bowie          - Space Oddity 

70’s – Genesis                   - Ripples 

80’s – Simple Minds        - Don’t You (Forget About Me) 

90’s – AC/DC                     - Thunderstruck 

00’s – MGMT                     - Kids 

10’s – George Ezra           - Paradise 

20’s – Les Miserables      - One Day More 

Enjoy :-) 

70’s     - (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais        – The Clash 

80’s     - A Forest                                                       – The Cure 

90’s     - Four Seasons In One Day                         - Crowded House 

00’s     - Somebody Told Me                                    - The Killers

10’s     - Walk                                                             - Foo Fighters 

20’s     - The Changingman                                      - Paul Weller 

·        Seeing Rick Wakeman live when he was 5 years old 

·        French Summer Holiday's in the 80's 

·        Discovering Computers & Coding as a 12-year-old 

·        Being a chorister in The Ambrosia Singers & appearing on TV & in a  film 

·        Blagging his way to a job at Microsoft in 1992 (to avoid a long bus commute) 

·        Seeing a grumpy Robbie Williams and a charming Damon Alburn in small clubs in Seattle 

·        Turning down Amazon in 2008 and then getting a second bite of the cherry 

·        Moving his life and family 5000 miles, twice! 

·        Listening to every episode of Music Talks 

·        The joy of watching his son's musical talent grow.  

Simon’s song selections were:  

70’s – ELO                                                                             - Mr Blue Sky 

80’s – Erasure                                                                      - A Little Respect 

90’s – Blur                                                                              - Parklife 

00’s - Scissor Sisters                                                         – I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ 

10’s – Bob Sinclair, The Supermen Lovers( Ft.Robbie Williams)            

                                                                                                       - Romantico Starlight 

Simon’s Film Soundtrack Choices for each decade were: 

70’s - Main Title - Star Wars– John Williams

80’s - Main Title and Colwyn’s Arrival – Krull – James Horner 

90’s - Main Title - The Firm – Dave Grusin

00’s - The Battle – Gladiator by Hans Zimmer

10’s - The Son of Flynn – Tron: Legacy by Daft Punk

All of the above (other than the Krull soundtrack sadly) are included in this Playlist along with the other

Jo is an inspiring speaker, mentor and consultant who works to resolve conflict around the world. Her father Sir Anthony Berry was killed by the IRA in the 1984 IRA Brighton Bombing. Sixteen years later Jo first met with the man responsible, Pat Magee. 
 
 This initial three-hour meeting led to them speaking on over three hundred occasions, on a shared platform around the world. Their unusual relationship was the subject of the BBC documentary “Facing the Enemy” and was featured in the film” Beyond Right and Wrong” and inspired “The Bomb” a play by Kevin Dyer.

The founder of the charity ‘Building Bridges for Peace’, Jo advocates that unbounded empathy is the biggest weapon we have to end conflict. Her story is fascinating, moving and challenging at times but ultimately it is one of hope and inspiration as she talks of the inner peace she has latterly found and encourages us to see the humanity in others.

With a degree in Music it has always been a constant companion for Jo and her song choices  in this episode are : 
 
 60's - The Turtles - Happy Together 
 70's - David Bowie - Changes 
 80's - Frankie Goes To Hollywood - The Power Of Love 
 90's - S Club 7 - Bring It All Back 
 00's - Keane - Everybody's Changing 
 10's - Coldplay - Paradise 
 20's - Pitbull - I Believe That We Will Win (World Anthem) 
 
 Finally, in a break with tradition, we play out with John Lennon's "Imagine" which has always been Jo's song and always will be 
 
 All these choices together with other songs and artists referenced in this episode can be found in this Spotify Playlist  ( just cut & paste the link into your browser) 
 
  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5wvJOqvD8472JZd0eM8LYJ?si=xQPY2xJfRxOde3nOmIEUNw
 
 REMINDER : Music Talks supports Chapter Markers so if you don't have time to listen to the whole episode this is a great way to consume it in decade sized chunks ! 

·        Growing up in Grimsby "The Garden City" 

·        Surviving Trinity College Cambridge as a working-class boy 

·        The delights of flangers! 

·        How The Smiths generated a love for poetry

·        Taking part in the downfall of the Soviet Union 

·        Being mistaken for a member of Razorlight 

·        The magical communal experience that is a gig.  

His song choices are: 

·        1969 - Led Zeppelin - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You 

·        1976 - David Bowie - Station to Station 

·        1984- The Smith's - Still Ill 

·        1994 - Oasis -Whatever 

·        2006 - Razorlight - America 

·        2011 - Frank Turner - Glory Hallelujah

·        2020 - Banners - Got It In You 

If your Podcast supports "Chapters" then so does Music Talks. Its a great way to consume an episode in decade sized chunks. 

 Since 1992, with the exception of a Dot Com Sojourn for a year , Andy has worked for Accenture & Avanade and during that time he has always lived in Europe. Initially in Sophia Antipoles and for over 20 years home has been Frankfurt in Germany with his wife Astrid and their two teenage children 

At the other end of the spectrum, we also talk about bullying at school, the pain of divorce, handling grief and Internet child safety. 

Like life itself, this episode is a roller-coaster ride but if you stay on to the end I guarantee the world will seem a better place .

Matt talks towards the end of the episode about The Patchamama Project which his daughter Ella set up during lockdown. Through a worldwide network of volunteers they make and distribute reusable sanitary pads to refugees around the world.
 
Do please take a look at The Pachamama Project | Fighting Period Poverty and if you are able to donate a little even better 

Matt's song choices in this episode are : 

60's - The Beatles - Old Brown Shoe 
70's - Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop 
80's - John Martyn - Grace & Danger 
90's - Dodgy - Staying Out For The Summer 
00's - Coldplay - Yellow 
10's - Nothing But Thieves - If I Get High 
20's - New Rules - Mountains 

Those selections , along with a song from every other artist and band mentioned in our chat,  are included in this Spotify Playlist , just cut & paste into your browser. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0VPjLXJk0QtfAzPHoTirAu?si=uQcY6nIYRSqdM9YlTIU5Ow

Music Talks supports the "Chapter" functionality available in most Podcast apps and is a great way to listen in more than one sitting. 

Richmond is uniquely qualified in pain science, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, sport science, nursing and coaching and in his own words his goal is to "help people understand their pain and move on to shape a positive future”.  

Getting to that point has been an interesting and fascinating journey involving time in nursing, four University degrees and youthful stints packing sausages and being a failed Private Detective.  

11 years at University is a clear sign that Richmond is an inveterate learner and its one of the reasons why two years ago he started #upandrun where he runs an Ultra Marathon every month! That's one heck of a way to find out more about yourself, your body and pain.  

His musical choices are all around the theme of "Freedom" and whilst he didn't pick the Queen track “I Want to Break Free” it felt like an appropriate title for someone who is passionate about people being themselves, finding their own way and living their own lives. He is someone who walks (and runs) the talk and is genuinely inspirational. 

 
 If you would like to get in touch with Richmond or find out more about his work then these links should help: 
 
 Twitter& Instagram  :  @painphysio
 Facebook : @thepaincoach 
 Web : http://www.specialistpainphysio.com/
 
 He also recently started a Podcast called "Positive Encourager" 
 
 We are both fans of and have benefited from the work of Mike Pegg and you can find more details on that at https://www.thepositiveencourager.global/mike-pegg-the-art-of-strengths-coaching/
 
 In the episode I talk about the work of actionforhappiness.com of which I am a big fan. Do take a look if you can 
 
 Finally, the Playlist with all Richmond's choices and a song from each artist/show/film mentioned in the episode can be found here. Just cut & paste into your browser. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3udXNa2TqPGIs1lgyDnIUj?si=wdU1PsthTP21pJInVkVflA
 
 
 Enjoy! 

Born and bred in Blackpool he now lives in the Ribble Valley with his wife and two children. Gary has built a successful career in the I.T industry but, at the title of the episode suggests, the road to that career was an interesting one taking him from Fancy Goods, through Photography, being a Light Jockey and Bingo calling. 

He makes a great set of song choices that interestingly all have a visual connection to them which was a theme that only became fully apparent when we were recording the episode, I will be sharing a number of those videos on the Music Talks Facebook page over the next two weeks.

We close the episode by talking about Gary’s love and passion for Judo, the coaching work he has done for many years and the inclusive and supportive Judo community he is proud to be part of. 

This is a long and winding road that is worth walking :-) 

Musically, John’s biggest commercial success was with the band Loop whose third album "A Gilded Eternity", released in 1990, made the Top 40 and was a Number 1 on the Indie Chart in the UK.  He’s played Reading Festival,  done multiple Peel sessions and been supported by The Happy Monday’s and Nirvana. 

In 2001 John moved with his wife and musical collaborator Pinkie  Maclure to  Scotland and they now live in the beautiful village of Cellardyke in the East Neuk of Fife.  John and Pinkie perform under the name of Pumajaw and have released six albums with another in the works. Additionally, in 2013/4 they staged a multimedia show at the Edinburgh Festival called "Song Noir" which was voted in the Top 50 shows of the Festival

This Spotify Playlist contains John's choices and a track from every artist mentioned during our chat. just cut and paste into your browser.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/64gcrLCFjQpyIcBdpqXnvY?si=YXBtZST-RIm0Uyn4STqc0g

Contact Details

John's Personal email : johnw9906@gmail.com
For Podcast work          : editpod007@gmail.com
Pumajaw website          : https://pumajaw1.bandcamp.com/ 

I look forward to welcoming you into 2021 with a stonking first episode which will be released on January 7th.  

Those talents are now being applied to probably the most important role she has ever had which is VP of nannying to her 5-month-old granddaughter the "Lovely Libby". In her previous corporate life, Ellyn had a successful and impressive career with some of the biggest names in the IT sector: IBM, DEC, HP, Microsoft. 

It was no surprise to me that Ellyn immersed herself in the Music Talks process and it has paid dividends in a series of great song choices and some fantastic stories and memories.

 I find the way her song choices take her back to specific time, place, sound and smell really moving and the joy they give her is another highlight. In Episode 34 Tim Lulofs was the first guest to play an instrument during an episode and Ellyn is the first to sing along to her choices! It’s a delight to hear. 

This episode was recorded three days after the US Election and needless to say we get to discuss it in "Final Thought".  Ellyn talks passionately about America’s unfulfilled promise and her personal commitment to help realise that potential and deliver on that promise. 

In the “Final Thoughts” section we also get to talk about losing a parent to Alzheimer’s and the power of music to still make connections even in the latter stages of that awful disease. That moving discussion was the inspiration for the title of the episode: 
 “The Magic and Mystery of Music” - Enjoy 😊

Ellyn's choices plus a song from each artist mentioned is included in this playlist . Just cut & paste into your browser 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4XZ1arO4vdauz62vUbq3Xl?si=9z-C2C6tRa2RJg64Pi64TA

Dad would be the first to say that what is more significant  than Will's parentage is that over the past 13 years he has released six critically acclaimed albums (with a seventh on the way) under the name of Will Stratton. 

Born in California in 1987, mostly raised in New Jersey and currently an upstate New Yorker, Will has a family background steeped in Americana and is the great-grandson of a travelling preacher.  He started playing piano at the age of 4, guitar at 12 and did his first song writing and recording while at high school, before going on to study philosophy and music composition. 

In 2016 Will signed to one of the best independent labels there is, Bella Union, after its founder, Simon Raymonde, discovered his music on Bandcamp. The first release on Bella Union was “Rosewood Almanac” in 2017 which was described as:

 “a work of fragile magic, a hypnotic combination of beautifully breathy voice and exquisite lyrical imagery, gorgeous melodies and similarly soft-spun instrumentation, centred on his thrumming acoustic guitar and the verdant presence of velvet strings.”

Will takes us through his story, talks about his influences and gives some fascinating insights into the creative process , the things that challenge and fulfil him, and some of the practical issues of being a recording artist. 

Will has a deep love and connection with the British "Folk movement" of the early 70's - Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson and Fairport Convention, but his taste and influences are wide ranging. They go from Debussy, Chopin and Erik Satie through ambient and electronic music to the film music of Max Richter and Jonny Greenwood . All of this and more is included in the Spotify Playlist below. It's one of the most eclectic we have had on the show and its all the better for that - enjoy :-)

Please cut and paste into your browser 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7Lwm0Af64D34LreNXyGCTG?si=QszIsi4lSHCRZLXcGUmVIg

Born in Fresno California in 1951 Tim is Husband to Cheri (since 1973) , Father to two sons Matt & Will , English Scholar, Writer, Teacher , Musician , Song Writer , Singer , Fly Fisherman,  all round lovely bloke and as you will hear one heck of a storyteller. 

He has amassed a wealth of stories in his 69 years only matched by the rich and varied musical journey he has undertaken through Elvis Presley, East Coast Psychedelia, Funk, Soul, Jazz and Americana and this is reflected in his song choices. 

His choice for the 2010’s is a powerful song from his son Will who has released six critically acclaimed albums and I am delighted to say that Will is my next guest on Music Talks. The episode then finishes with Tim making a connection between a dubious and inappropriate 1960 novelty record and Bruce Springsteen’s State Trooper. 

Tim is the first of my guests to play and sing during our discussion and the episode plays out with one of my favourites of Tim’s songs with The Professors “Shoe in the Road” 

You are in for a treat, enjoy 😊 

This Playlist contains songs and artists mentioned during our discussion ( Just copy and paste into your browser) 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/19DLGtjrslKxSX4ZyptC5l?si=wXCzBKP6S2miK3U1C1TNxw

Over time, Dan and I bonded and built a friendship around music, and that continued when he moved to Seattle in 2014. That move has allowed him to indulge his passions around music, cars, sailing and travel whilst advancing his career, He now has a lovely house in Alki with a view over the Puget Sound that I will always be slightly envious of. 

No profile of Dan would be complete without reference to the deep love he has for what he calls “His Crows”. Dan has a wide-ranging taste in music as can be seen in the 71 songs in this episodes playlist (yes, that’s the biggest ever!) . But in amongst all of that there is a love and a passion for the Counting Crows that I absolutely identify with. He has now seen them live 34 times across numerous states and countries and they will always be the soundtrack to his life. 

In Dan’s view “Rain King” is the ultimate Crows song and it’s appropriately one of his song choices and the name of this episode. 

You can hear the record breaking Playlist here . Just cut & paste into your browser 
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2tZ4BXdgepwl9MujbxBTm9?si=Qv-7z5UXQlm0zx6jXIZhtg

You can listen to the Playlist from this episode, which includes Stephen’s selections along with a song from every artist mentioned by cutting and pasting this link into your browser: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2m5xLeR2Ywe3KzIRDtDLeo?si=kSUxzJfbTYmQ_4JFwfxkXQ

We covered a LOT of music in our chat and in fact this is the longest playlist that an episode has produced to date with 58 songs. You can find it here : 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0ooBruNnjxIXORLPnHhni7?si=O46vfCX9SOuLl0oYQRus3g

Please cut and paste into your browser 

Enjoy :-) 

“a perfectly average middle-aged woman who has achieved relative success in a reasonably ordinary life”

For the next hour or so she then regales us with a series of fascinating stories (and great musical choices) that clearly show there is nothing average or ordinary about Lucy. 

From being a child roadie at the age of 7, having her first newspaper front page spread at 16, driving massive change management at BT , starting a new business venture with her partner Emma to interviewing Paul Young , Tony Visconti and Earl Slick in recent years,  she has ( to use her own phrase) consistently punched above her weight in a really impressive and interesting way. 

In addition to all of the above Lucy is a dedicated Bowie devotee and has a series of fascinating and insightful stories about the great man and her life long interest in him and his work. 

Finally,  part of Lucy’s motivation for coming on to Music Talks is that she is celebrating her 50th birthday this year so she’s only just getting started. I for one cannot wait to see the next chapter of this story …….an episode not to be missed 

During this episode we referenced 43 different songs and artists who are included in this playlist . Just cut & paste into your browser 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6macMBrLGnKS88IQIxewu0?si=BRziD_rjRiCO3h73S35zZQ

As I have stated several times most Podcasts don’t get past Episode 7. This is a very important milestone for me and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has listened over the past year and for the great support I have had. 

Downloads are now running at 1000 per month and that is way above what  I was targeting a year ago. More important than numbers though are the new friendships that have been made and the existing friendships that have been deepened. This is one of the most joyful, fulfilling things I have ever done and for that I am immensely grateful.

To mark this milestone, I wanted a special guest and I have one. As I say at the start of the episode,  without Jesse Jackson and his encouragement and support, I would not be podcasting, and Music Talks would not exist. I went on to Jesse’s Podcast “Set Lusting Bruce” in June 2018 as a guest and everything followed from there. 

Jesse is 61, with deep southern roots in Louisiana and has lived in Dallas since 1986. His dad was in the military and so he moved around a lot growing up including a stint in Germany. He & his wife Linda are celebrating 40 years together this year and they are proud parents to Chris, 31. 
 
 As you would guess Jesse has a deep love of Mr Springsteen, as well as Podcasting, Comic Books and Dr.Who. As you will hear he is also one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. 

We covered a lot of musical ground in this episode as you can hear on the Playlist below. 

Enjoy 😊

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7KPmxLuBjd3fe3Gftid9d2?si=3Cj3Z9JPStuDe9JqQhYLvw

I do edit these episodes, but I wasn’t about to cut out almost a half of this conversation, and so, we have our first two-part episode with this being Part 2 , spanning the end of the 70's through to the present day.

In what can only be described as challenging times I found Mike's story,  and his comments and insights , to be thought provoking, inspirational and comforting. I hope you find the same.

The Playlist for the full episode can be found here :
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2KivQPuX2WGU15GVcE6hZF?si=ZHGdx7n3ThOKiZYHV1S9fg

Mike Pegg Bio 

Mike has spent the past 40 years helping people to build on their strengths and achieve their picture of success. His many books include The Strengths Way, The Art of Mentoring, The Super Teams Book, The Strengths Toolbox and Strengths Coaching In 90 Minutes, the latter co-authored with Sue Moore. His Bio is below
 
Mike's early work was captured in the 1972 BBC documentary Escape To Fulfilment (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hC3MeNKiTI). 
This described the pioneering therapeutic community he ran for young people who were encouraged to : 

•  Take responsibility;
•  Build on their strengths;
• Manage the consequences of their weaknesses.

 They then encouraged each other to stay healthy and achieve success. 

In 1974 Mike set-up his own company dedicated to helping people to build on their strengths and achieve ongoing success. Invited to work in Scandinavia, he spent over a decade there educating leaders in schools, business and sports.
 
His approach has always been to study, simplify and share what works. This has led to providing practical tools that people have used to build super teams and superb organisations. These have been adopted by organisations to build excellence cultures, rather than excuse cultures. They have delivered a clear story, strategy and road to success.

 Mike's style is encouraging and generous, but it is also extremely clear. He only works with people, teams and organisations that aim to be positive, professional and peak performers. Many organisations report that this approach works. People take away practical tools they can use to deliver peak performance.

A strong advocate of sharing knowledge, Mike set up The Strengths Foundation. The Foundation's site is packed with positive models and practical tools that people can download and use in their own way. You can access this know-how at: http://www.thestrengthsfoundation.org/ 

Now I do edit these episodes, but I wasn’t about to cut out almost a half of this conversation, and so, we have our first two-part episode with Part 1 being published today (11th June)  and Part 2 going out in a week’s time  (Thursday 18th June) .

In what can only be described as challenging times I found Mike's story,  and his comments and insights , to be thought provoking, inspirational and comforting. I hope you find the same.

The Playlist for the full episode can be found here :
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2KivQPuX2WGU15GVcE6hZF?si=ZHGdx7n3ThOKiZYHV1S9fg

Mike Pegg Bio 

Mike has spent the past 40 years helping people to build on their strengths and achieve their picture of success. His many books include The Strengths Way, The Art of Mentoring, The Super Teams Book, The Strengths Toolbox and Strengths Coaching In 90 Minutes, the latter co-authored with Sue Moore. His Bio is below
 
Mike's early work was captured in the 1972 BBC documentary Escape To Fulfilment (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hC3MeNKiTI). 
This described the pioneering therapeutic community he ran for young people who were encouraged to : 

•  Take responsibility;
•  Build on their strengths;
• Manage the consequences of their weaknesses.

 They then encouraged each other to stay healthy and achieve success. 

In 1974 Mike set-up his own company dedicated to helping people to build on their strengths and achieve ongoing success. Invited to work in Scandinavia, he spent over a decade there educating leaders in schools, business and sports.
 
His approach has always been to study, simplify and share what works. This has led to providing practical tools that people have used to build super teams and superb organisations. These have been adopted by organisations to build excellence cultures, rather than excuse cultures. They have delivered a clear story, strategy and road to success.

 Mike's style is encouraging and generous, but it is also extremely clear. He only works with people, teams and organisations that aim to be positive, professional and peak performers. Many organisations report that this approach works. People take away practical tools they can use to deliver peak performance.

A strong advocate of sharing knowledge, Mike set up The Strengths Foundation. The Foundation's site is packed with positive models and practical tools that people can download and use in their own way. You can access this know-how at: http://www.thestrengthsfoundation.org/ 
 
 

Nigel’s musical tastes are as wide ranging as his travel has been and that is reflected in the fact that this Playlist of songs and artists mentioned in the episode is the biggest, we have ever had on Music Talks. 

Enjoy the music and, as always, some great stories 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3YTqn7vDHZZ27FZm7lMzJM?si=8I7zkZROTmqAu2eNI-F4Gg

In her own words she is “an Air Force brat” who arrived in Washington state in 1980 after a four-year stint in the UK where the music scene had been transformed by Punk and Thatcher’s Britain was kicking off.  

After college and 3 months back packing trip around Europe Kim decided to follow her passion and become a singer. As she describes in this episode, her first live performance was in her mid-twenties at Murphy’s on 45th in Wallingford – which just happens to have been my local pub when I lived in Seattle. 

Here is what Last. FM have to say about Kim 

If you were a rock fan in Seattle, WA in the early nineties you were a fan of Kim Virant and her band, Lazy Susan. With their Stonesy double guitar stomp and Kim’s charismatic vocals, Lazy Susan ruled the club scene, working their way from small venues to routinely selling out 1000 person capacity rooms and opened up for artists such as Pearl Jam.

The band broke up after a recording deal fell through, after which Virant reinvented herself, or at least her music. Her solo albums were based on an alt-country/rootsy guitar sound with the 2007 album “Songs from a Small House” being a highlight along with the 2014 single “Pilot”. The self-proclaimed “queen of benefits,” Virant has played alongside many artists and continues to be locally active and acclaimed in Seattle

Kim is married to Chris Friel (“my good looking husband, he helps keep my dream alive”), an accomplished drummer who has played with The Rockfords and Goodness among others. 

Kim’s latest project is a band called Rosso Viti which she formed last year with long-time friend and collaborator Bryan Cohen who says this about the band 

“Our music is a fun mix of catchy songs, crunchy riffs, and DIY garage attitude. It harkens back to early 80’s rock with all the fun and none of the hangover!”

Their first EP “Viva La Heart” was released in February of this year and it certainly lives up to Bryan’s description and Kim’s voice is better than ever. 

Take a listen to the EP on your favourite streaming service but only after you have listened to this equally great episode 😊 Enjoy! 

You can hear all the artists/song we talked about here - 3 hours of musical delight !
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/23GY1qNl7NmTSAiXoI4aSA?si=jeVee0CdQsujFgk6doXQIQ

Spotify Playlist :

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0tD860YGHgSf6aZY8S8cmC?si=_0tfO04EQwSjoENiQR0lFQ

Contact Details

Rosie's email is rosiemcglynned@gmail.com and you can also find her on Instagram @rosieporty

If you would like to get in touch with me then you can do that in the following ways : 

Email - Musictalkspod@outlook.com
Twitter - @musictalkspod 
Facebook - Music Talks Podcast

A Cornishman by birth and from good working-class stock, Ian is someone who embraces life to the full whatever the situation. With a keen eye for detail, the serious and the ridiculous he has a finely honed sense of humour which, in my view, is quintessentially English. 

As can be seen below Ian is an inveterate list maker and he uses these to take us on a journey through his life and shows, in a really engaging way, the relationship and importance music and the arts has had in that journey. 

His lists have also produced what I think is just a great Playlist spanning 46 songs and over 3 hours of great music. Do try and give it a listen. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0hQJzPqpQCdRnmmbqWe6fj?si=0cJ0iil3Rner_Mtava2W0g 

The tracks that made Ian’s shortlist, by decade 

Top 5 1970
 Boomtown Rats, Rat Trap

Madness, One Step Beyond

Frank Sinatra, Theme From New York New York

David Bowie, Life On Mars

The Jam, In The City 

Top 5 1980 

OMD, Souvenir 

The Smiths, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

Half Man Half Biscuit, Trumpton Riots

The Stone Roses, She Bangs The Drums

New Order, Bizarre Love Triangle 

Top 5 1990 

Pulp, Common People

Suede, Animal Nitrate

Blur, Parklife

Radiohead, Let Down

St Etienne, London Belongs to me 

Top 5 2000 

Eminen, Stan

The Libertines, Can't stand me now

The Streets, Lets Push things forward

Hard Fi, Living for the weekend

Coldplay, Yellow 

Top 5 2010 

The Twang, Either Way

LaRoux, Bulletproof

Lana Delray, Video Games

Plan B. She Said

Tinie Tempah, Pass Out 

And here is another list that covers Movies, TV, Podcasts, Music Overall and Books 

Favourite Movies:

1970’s: The Godfather 1&2, Quadrophenia, Star Wars

1980’s: Wall Street, Platoon, American Werewolf In London

1990’s: True Romance, Goodfella’s, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

2000’s: Dead Man’s Shoes, Sexy Beast, Control

2010’s: The Wolf of Wall Street, The Social Network, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 

Favourite TV Shows:

UK 20th Century: The Young Ones, Spitting Image, House Of Cards

UK 21st Century: The Thick of It, The Inbetweeners, Peep Show 

US 20th Century: The Sopranos, The West Wing, The Simpsons

US 21st Century: 30 Rock, VEEP, Mad Men 

Favourite Podcasts:

Politics: The New Statesman, The Spectator, Private Eye

Economics and business: More or Less, Freakonomics, The Economist

Music: Music Talks (obvs), Disgraceland, Desert Island Disks

True stories: Serial, The Dropout, The Missing Crypto Queen

Wisdom: Revisionist History, Cautionary Tales, Exponential Wisdom

Sport: Totally football show, Test Match Special, Nessun Dorma 

Music:

Generally, l Like: Indie, Punk, 2-Tone, New Wave, 80’s Electronica, Reggae, Ska, Motown

Generally, I don’t like: Disco, Funk, Folk, Country, R&B, Rock & Roll, Yacht Rock, World music, Heavy Metal, Prog

Can go either way: Rock, Rap, Hip Hop, Grunge, Goth, Classical, House/Techno/Dance 

Books:
Fiction: The Catcher In The Rye – JD Salinger, The Liar – Stephen Fry, High Fidelity – Nick Hornby

Music: Cider With Roadies – Stuart Maconie, , Bedsit Disco Queen – Tracey Thorn, Touching From A Distance – Deborah Curtis

Sport: A Voyage For Mad Men – Peter Nichols, The Damned United – David Peace, Fever Pitch – Nick Hornby

Modern History: Fifty Songs That Made Modern Britain – Stuart Maconie, Awaydays – Kevin Sampson, Things Can Only Get Better – John O’Farrell

Born and raised in Los Angeles his music career started at a young age in the 80’s, playing clubs like The Roxy, Whisky-a-Go-Go, Madam Wongs and everywhere on the famed Sunset Strip and beyond. During this time Jeff also landed various film and TV appearances (aka Jeff Fishman) including The Karate Kid. 

He is a composer, singer, keyboard player & guitar player and 
is currently Keyboardist for the band Survivor, as well as playing in the brilliantly named tribute band, Robert Plantation. In the studio Jeff is composing music for several Cable TV shows as well as playing keyboards & writing for new artists.

For further background and details do take a look at his website at http://www.jeffreybryanmusic.com/

As you would expect Jeff made a series of interesting musical choices and has some great and insightful observations and stories. In his closing thoughts he says “Good music makes you feel alive “which is something I absolutely agree with. As you will hear, I was initially going to use that as the title for the episode but then I couldn’t resist the Bee Gees reference. 

Enjoy 😊 

All songs and artists referenced (with the exception of "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" by Tears for Fears which is not on Spotify) can be found here - 32 gems 
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4vDDpCFydHI9Ifw6Hbrpqb?si=pLOYXBMKTqu5h2_O3s3yjQ

It’s a wide-ranging musical discussion that spans Perry Como to Stormzy and, as can be seen in the 41 songs in the Spotify playlist, an awful lot lot in between. 

My personal highlight was Ewan introducing me to the Public Service Broadcasting album “Race for Space”; as they used to say in the AM radio days, it’s been on constant rotation at Smith Towers since our recording. I would encourage everyone to take a listen to the album.  

Finally, it may well only be me that will notice, but this is the first episode where I have been entirely happy with the audio!

Enjoy the episode and, as always, all feedback is welcome.

The Spotify Playlist with full versions of all Ewan's choices and every other song and artist we mentioned ( with the exception of Gary Glitter) can be found here. - just cut & paste into your browser

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4T2Lrs0KlNQFJ782PwzCgz?si=vJsiv15VSLCSiPffOAqCEQ

A proud Cornish girl from Hampshire farming and Geordie mining stock, life was never going to be dull for Becky and so it proved. 

After an idyllic childhood growing up in Bude, Cornwall, she departed UK shores in 1992 for a gap year in New Zealand followed by 5 years at Manchester University. 

In 1996, continuing to indulge her travel bug Becky took a solo trip to Seattle that was to change her life. On her first day 5000 miles away from home she met the man who would become her husband, hence the episode title. 

After two years of long distance dating in 1998 she got married and moved to Seattle where she still lives today with her music loving husband Kurtz and their 14-year daughter Maddy. 

Following a varied career since 2011 Becky has worked at KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio and as you will hear in the episode, gets to meet the odd celebrity. 

We talk about a wide spectrum of songs and artists during the episode and there were some Becky put in her notes that we didn't get to. All 49 songs are included in this Spotify Playlist 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3NQuHhRq2vwUEyWs02kc5W?si=wlYDJ6HuRGu0U2K6DTfCWw

Just copy & paste the link into your Browser 

 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5X1kdI3Nl3BAmJPxBmWuFQ?si=WtT83HgVS1-g-7xJMRm13g
 
 
 If you wish to get in touch with Omar his email is omarbsaid97@gmail.com and you can get me on musictalkspod@outlook.com , or on twitter @musictalkspod . Also please like the Facebook page by searching , once again , on musictalkspod 
 
 Thanks for listening 

Now That’s What I Call Music Compilation Records 

-          Great site at https://www.nowmusic.com/ which has full details of all 104 albums released so far 

Top of the Pops 

Iconic BBS show that was the longest weekly music show that ran from 1964 to 2006 . Full details here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_of_the_Pops

The Old Grey Whistle Test 

The alternative BBC music show (and so it shown late night on BBC 2) . It ran from 1971 to 1988 and was massively influential. Worth searching on You Tube for clips or even better getting hold of the DVD’s the BBC latterly released . Full details of the show here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Grey_Whistle_Test

Wembley 1998 – Artists Against Apartheid – Nelson Mandela’s 70TH Birthday Tribute 

The concert, according to Robin Denselow, music critic and presenter of the BBC broadcast, writing in 1989, was the "biggest and most spectacular pop-political event of all time, a more political version of Live Aid with the aim of raising consciousness rather than just money."

Full details can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela_70th_Birthday_Tribute

Numerous Video are on You Tube and this is my favourite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5N2UA82nCU

My Best of 2018 

Can be found here (ignore the naming it is my Best Of) 

http://setlustingbruce.libsyn.com/interview-with-henrik-hemdrup#4LF0u7wYEhkJZDAr.03 

Best of 2019 coming early in January 2020 

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• Jimi Hendrix on the Lulu show - this is a MUST WATCH 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa_e9R_19w4

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Paul
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The Professors
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Terry
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There are daily posts connected to the previous episode.